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1 



E. A. WEEKS & COMPANY 

CHICAGO 

The Lucile Series— No. 3, Oct. 1, 1893. Issued Monthly. Subscription price, $6.00 per year. 
Entered at the Chicago Postoffice as second-class matter. 
































“ Side by side near the banks of the brook, a young girl and a young man 

are seated.” — Page 5. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE 


A ROMANCE OF ST. AUGUSTINE 


BY 

BEATRICE MAREAN 

v> 

AUTHOR OF “ THE TRAGEDIES OF OAK HURST.” 




E. A. WEEKS AND COMPANY 


276 & 278 Franklin Street 


Copyright 1893 

BY 

E. A. WEEKS & COMPANY. 


Her Shadowed Life. 


TO MR. HE NR Y M. FLA GLER 

St. Augustine' s friend a?id benefactor who has adorned her 
ancient streets with imposing edifices commemorative of 
the 16th Century , and of the genius and art of the 
Spanish race; thus with rare taste adding new grace and 
dignity to the historic town , the former glory of which is 
‘a tale long told * without detracting in the least from 
its charm of a 7 itiquity, or true elements of poetry; this 
romance , the shifting scenes of which , transpired in both 
the old town and the new , is respectfully dedicated by 

THE AUTHOR. 


“In the realm of flowers, a perfumed land, 
Girt by the sea, by soft winds fanned ; 
Ravaged by war in years grown old, 

Its former glory a tale long told, 

Stands the quaint old Spanish City. 

The scene of many a hard fought fight, 

Of many a siege, when Spanish might 
Was o’er the land : in its decay 
It hath a beauty to live alway, 

That quaint old Spanish City.” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER I. 

An autumn day, soft and dreamy, in the mellow light of 
an Indian summer sun. 

All about are the rich and varied tints from the brush of 
the Great Artist which has touched the quivering foliage of 
the grand forest trees into the harmonious coloring with 
which Nature loves to deck herself in readiness to receive 
King Winter, when he comes with his icy breath and mantle 
of snow. The sound of dropping nuts is heard, while russet, 
and yellow, and crimson, and brown leaves sail airily down- 
ward, and go floating away upon the bosom of a clear mur- 
muring brook, which ere long will have its lullaby hushed in 
the cold arms thrown about it by the despotic king whose 
near approach has already been signaled by the death of 
many a flower and tender shrub. 

Side by side near the banks of the brook, a young girl and 
a young man are seated upon the prostrate body of a grand 
forest monarch which some passing storm had uprooted, and 
left to die an ignoble death upon its bed of clay. 


6 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


Surely not more than sixteen short summers had touched the 
brow of the fair girl, who is looking up into her companion’s 
face with eyes all aglow with love’s devotion. But, despite 
the love-light shining in those tender blue orbs, if we gaze 
into them as the young man near by her side is doing, we 
will detect some troubled shadow of remorse or anxiety 
which tells of a mind or conscience not wholly at rest ; and, 
if we pause in idle curiosity to listen to the low words the 
cherry lips disclose, we will be convinced that conscience 
and love are holding a terrible warfare within the gentle 
breast of this being, who should have been shielded in this, 
the innocent and confiding day of her youth, from all such 
temptation as at this moment is besetting her, and will ere 
long claim her as its victim. 

“ Darling, surely if you love me with one hundredth part of 
the devotion I lavish upon you, you would not hesitate to be 
guided by my advice, and be bound to me before I leave you 
with the golden chain fashioned by the Hand of God for 
the binding together of all such loving hearts as ours, and 
which no hand but His has any right to sever.” 

“ Herbert, can it be possible that you doubt my love for 
you ? ” she asked with a pitiable quiver in her voice, which 
reminded one of a grieved child’s. 

“ Oh, you love me as much as women love men generally, 
I suppose,” he replied, and into his tone a taste of bitterness 
had crept. “ But you do not love me well enough to yield to 
my earnest entreaties. In this I repeat that your love does 
not equal my own for you. There is no sacrifice under heaven, 
precious one, that I would not gladly make if thereby your 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


7 

happiness or welfare might be increased,” he ended pas- 
sionately. 

“ Then trust me, and be content to defer our marriage 
until you have finished your studies, and I have completed 
my school-days, and have reached a proper age when a girl 
should become a wife,” she pleaded. 

“ I believe that I may safely trust you, sweet one, but not 
the circumstances which will no doubt be brought to bear 
upon you after I am gone. No, I am convinced that if I 
must bid you farewell before the holy vows are taken which 
will make us husband and wife, it will be forever. So there 
is only one more short month of happiness for me in this 
life ; for with that month expires my vacation, and I must 
return to my arduous studies, with a heart made heavy and 
sad by the conviction that my little love would not trust her- 
self wholly to me, for fear, perchance, that I may be a vil- 
lain, and prove false to my vows to her in the two weary 
years which must elapse before I can openly claim her as 
my own.” 

Oh, cruel shaft, sent with unerring aim ! How it pierced 
the quivering heart of the young victim, and broke away the 
barriers of resolve behind which it had fondly hoped it was 
safely entrenched ! 


8 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER II. 

A tiny wooden chapel, unpainted and unadorned, save 
for the gilded cross raised above the roof, and its few windows 
of stained glass. Enter this small inclosure, dear reader, 
ascend a pair of wooden steps, cross a small vestibule, and 
stand beside me within the gloom of the small sacred 
edifice. At first, perhaps, you think the place is empty of 
any human presence, until the solemn voice of a priest 
reaches our ears from the little chancel. We strain our eyes 
in the direction from which the sound emanates, and, as they 
become accustomed to the twilight of the place, we see a 
white-haired minister, clad in his robes of holy office, standing 
in the chancel with an open book in his hand, reading the 
marriage service to a man and woman who stand before 
him. The service proceeds. The ring is safely in its place 
upon the finger of the fair bride. “ Until death do us part” 
is breathed scarcely above a whisper. Then the prayer and 
benediction, and we stand aside as the newly-wedded pair 
slowly turn and come down the narrow aisle and step out 
into the bright sunlight of a November day. One glance 
into the radiantly happy face of the groom, and we scarcely 
need let our eyes wander to the face of the fair blushing 
bride by his side to know that the ardent lover pictured in 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


9 


the preceding chapter has won the day. True, the strictest 
privacy in all things regarding the marriage had been pre- 
served. Nevertheless, the vows just breathed in this un- 
furnished, unpretentious church, before the man of God 
whose earthly pilgrimage is almost finished, and witnessed 
by none but the sexton and his wife, both wrinkled by time 
and bowed by age, are just as binding in the sight of God 
and man as if the greatest pomp and wedding pageantry had 
attended the joining of those two hearts which were henceforth 
“ to beat as one.” The place was a wild and sparsely settled 
one in a new western state. The few houses which clustered 
themselves together scarcely deserved the name of a village. 
Its one long straggling street with its few shops and one store, 
and blacksmith shop, with a country team tied here and 
there, certainly was not a picture of enterprise, nor gave a 
glimpse of the prosperous city that was destined at no very 
distant day to erect its tall spires, and steeples upon this 
spot, now known only as a small trading-post for the adjacent 
country. 

Situated about a mile from the place we have described, 
stood a low, wide brick house, with a well-kept grove of 
natural forest trees standing to its right, and a bright green 
lawn to its left. The grounds surrounding the house were well 
kept, and, in summer time, were made bright by the great 
variety of perennial flowers and plants which flung out their 
rich coloring against the dark vivid green of the well-kept 
sward. In the rear of the house, the grounds gradually 
sloped away into a deeply wooded ravine, where a purling 
brook ran over a pebbly bottom, laughing and babbling on 


IO 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


its way to mingle its tiny stream with the great father of 
waters. Seventeen years prior to the opening of this story 
Mr. Oliver Mansden, a gentleman from Maryland, had 
bought the ground where this modest and homelike house 
stands, and had, after erecting the house and making some 
other improvements, been joined by his young wife and 
mother, and an orphan-girl whom the family was rearing. 
The family had taken up its abode in the new house, and 
lived in an atmosphere of quiet refinement, which marked 
the inmates at once as superior in many respects to their 
uncouth country neighbors. But brief had been their do- 
mestic happiness, which at the outset had bid fair to be of long 
continuance in this new home of their adoption ; for, in less 
than twelve months after the family’s arrival, Mr. Mansden 
sickened and died. In a few weeks, he was followed into 
the realms of the great unknown by his wife, who never re- 
covered from the shock of grief caused by the death of her 
tenderly loved husband, from whom not even the rude hand 
of death could long separate her. She left a tiny baby girl 
behind her, now bereft of all her kindred except her grand- 
mother, whose feet were rapidly treading the incline which 
leads to old age. The old lady strove, however, to fill the 
parents’ place to the little orphan as far as lay in her power. 
She conscientiously and tenderly reared the beautiful babe, 
and when it attained a proper age, engaged a governess to 
take charge of the child’s education. 

Thus the girl had passed her rather uneventful life until, 
at the age of sixteen, chance — if anything may correctly be 
attributed to chance — brought about a meeting between her 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


II 


and Herbert Raymond, a young college student, who had 
been banished to western wilds in consequence of failing 
health, and was spending a few weeks in the vicinity of Leah 
Mansden’s home. The young man had slightly wounded 
his hand one day while out gunning in the woods adjoining 
the Mansden home, and in consequence had called there for 
assistance. The moment his artistic eyes fell upon the little 
wild flower safely sheltered beneath the loving grandmother’s 
care, the pain of his wound was forgotten in his contempla- 
tion of the beautiful and innocent face of the girl whose 
lovely eyes were lifted to his face, filled with sympathy for 
the suffering his wound occasioned. 

Thus the acquaintance which soon ripened into love 
began. 

When this state of affairs was reached, the girl’s gover- 
ness, a cold, precise, and prudent lady, and one whom no 
one who knew her would ever dream of having had a love- 
affair of her own, went directly to Leah’s grandmother, and 
made her acquainted with her apprehensions that the young 
people were growing too fond of each other’s society. But 
the good old lady pished and pshawed the governess’s fears 
to scorn. 

“ The idea of Leah being in love with any man,” she said, 
indignant at the very thought. “ Why, my dear Miss Pink- 
ham, your fears are absurd; you forget that my grand- 
daughter is but a child, a mere baby, in fact. In love in- 
deed ! ” 

The governess shook her head, silenced but not convinced 
by the grandmother’s argument. But the old lady, despite 


12 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


the incredulity with which she had met the words of the gov- 
erness, had her own fears aroused by them to a degree that 
she never would have confessed even to herself. And as 
she tossed on her pillow that night she resolved to place her 
own surveillance over the young couple, to detect, if she 
might, any cause for Miss Pinkham’s suspicions. She did 
not have long to wait, for not many days elapsed before she 
too was convinced that what she had considered nothing but 
the passing friendship of a day had ripened into a degree of 
attachment between the young people, which to her eyes 
was alarming in the extreme. Therefore she forthwith for- 
bid Leah seeing the young stranger again, under any circum- 
stances. To her surprise the young girl, who had always 
yielded to her wishes without question or demur, met this 
mandate with tearful protestations, all of which made Mrs. 
Mansden all the more determined to have her will obeyed. 
Leah was banished to her own room for the remainder of 
the day, and when Mr. Raymond called in the evening and 
inquired for Miss Leah, he was waited upon by Mrs. Mans- 
den herself, who in her quiet, lady-like way frankly told him 
that his visits to her house must cease. 

“ Why, Mrs. Mansden/’ cried the young man, aghast at 
his banishment, “ what have I done to incur your displeas- 
ure ? Tell me at once, so that I may beg your pardon for 
any inadvertency of which I may unwittingly have been 
guilty.” 

“ You have done nothing amiss,” she answered in a 
kindly-meant tone ; “ but my having permitted my grand- 
daughter to meet you upon such intimate terms of friend- 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 




ship, from the first, has been an exception to the rule which 
I have made, that she shall not associate with young gentle- 
men until she has completed her education. You being a 
stranger, and entitled by this to our hospitality, coupled with 
the reason that Leah was enjoying a vacation from her 
studies, were the only reasons for my departing from my 
rule. But, now, Leah has resumed her studies and I do not 
wish her mind distracted by company. Therefore I must 
ask you to discontinue your calls.” 

“ Mrs. Mansden,” cried the young man passionately, fairly 
driven to this confession by the lady’s firmness, “ Leah 
and I love one another ; you do not know the suffering you 
will inflict upon us both if you persist in your resolve to 
separate us.” 

This frank avowal fairly took away Mrs. Mansden’s breath. 
She stared at the young man a moment in silence, and then 
said sarcastically : 

“ I hardly know which to admire most, your audacity or 
your frankness. So you have taken advantage of my con- 
fidence and hospitality by making love to my granddaughter, 
who is still a child, and wholly unused to the ways of men 
of the world. A fitting return for a gentleman to make for 
kindness shown him in good faith.” And the speaker’s fine 
old eyes flashed the indignation their owner felt upon the 
discomfited young man. 

He did not quail, however, beneath their fire, but an- 
swered earnestly : 

“ I beg your pardon, Mrs. Mansden ; but will you not 
listen to my explanation before you condemn me too 


14 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


severely ? I love your granddaughter with as true and 
honest passion as man ever felt for woman. She is the first 
woman I ever loved. This love stole upon me unawares. 
I did not bid it come, neither have I the power to bid it 
depart. I have not asked her to be my wife, because I 
could not so forget my duty to you even in my passion. 
That Leah loves me with her whole heart I am convinced, 
and I beg your consent to our betrothal. I have already 
presented my credentials of character to you, and am able to 
refer you to some of the most prominent men of New York, 
who will gladly testify to the worthiness of my family and 
antecedents.” 

“ Do you think me so devoid of conscience as to give my 
consent for this child to become betrothed to the first man 
whom she has ever known ? What does she know of the 
world or of love ? Simply nothing. You say she loves you ; 
she does not even know what the word love means. She 
has only mistaken a passing fancy for love, and it would not 
only be doing her an awful injustice to permit a betrothal 
between you, but doing you a great wrong as well,” she 
answered calmly. 

“ We are both willing to take all risk as to that,” he replied 
eagerly. 

“ Would you wed an untaught child ? ” she asked. 

“ Only permit us to be betrothed,” he pleaded, “ and I will 
promise not to ask her to marry me for two or even three 
years.” 

Mrs. Mansden shook her head in a decided manner. 

No, she would consent to nothing of the kind. In one 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


*5 

year more Leah would be sent away to school for three years, 
and then, after she had had one or two seasons in society in 
the city, if she still wished to marry Mr. Raymond and he 
wished to make her his wife, she would withdraw all objec- 
tion to the match, she said. 

In vain the young man pleaded and expostulated. Mrs. 
Mansden firm in her decision, no matter how many 

hearts might be broken by it. Then the stolen meetings 
between the two young people were brought about which 
culminated in the secret marriage, upon which our story is 
founded. 


i6 


HER SHADOWED LIFE, 


CHAPTER III. 

Mrs. Mansden congratulated herself that she had so 
easily disposed of the love-affair between her granddaughter 
and Mr. Raymond. True, the young girl had rebelled at 
first and shed bitter tears over what she considered the 
cruelty of her grandmother’s decision ; but after a week or 
two spent in restlessness and sullen discontent, she had 
appeared to yield to the inevitable, with what Mrs. Mansden 
was pleased to mentally term the good grace truly indicative 
of her superior sense and wise training. After this the 
subject was not referred to between them, and a soft happy 
light came into the girl’s eyes, and her demeanor was more 
quiet than of yore. She, moreover, was gentle and affection- 
ate to her grandmother, and paid more than her usual defer- 
ence to the old lady’s every wish. 

“ What a lovely disposition the child has,” Mrs. Mansden 
said fondly to Miss Pinkham a month later. “ Many a girl 
would have grown stubborn and revengeful, or even eloped 
with the man whom she imagined she loved. While Leah 
has the good sense to see the wisdom of the probation I 
have placed upon her, and accepts it like the sensible girl 
she is. She will forget all about this silly love-affair in 
another month, if she has not done so already.” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


J 7 


“ By the way,” returned Miss Pinkham looking up from 
her everlasting crochet work, “ I saw Mr. Raymond this 
morning when I was at the depot. He drove up in the om- 
nibus with his baggage, and I noticed that he bought a 
ticket for New York. So I suppose we have seen the last of 
him.” 

“ I hope so, at any rate,” replied Mrs. Mansden. “ Did he 
speak to you ? ” 

“ No, he only raised his hat in passing. But he came late 
and had no time to lose, as the cars were already in sight.” 

“ I wonder if Leah knows that he has gone without even 
attempting to bid her good-bye,” said Mrs. Mansden, speak- 
ing more to herself than to her companion. 

“ I do not know,” replied the other lady. “ When I came 
home I found Miss Leah locked in her room, and when I 
rapped and told her that it was time for her to begin her les- 
sons, she replied that she was suffering from such a dread- 
ful headache that I must excuse her from lessons to-day. So 
I have not seen her or had an opportunity to tell her of Mr. 
Raymond’s departure.” 

“ Yes, the poor girl is quite sick. I went to her room to 
see her after I heard she had a headache, but she would not 
open the door for me, only begged to be let alone, saying 
that nothing but quiet and rest would relieve her. I offered, 
and even insisted upon sending for Dr. West, but she would 
not listen to it. If she is not better in the morning, however, 
I shall send for the physician at once. The child may be 
threatened with typhoid fever,” said Mrs. Mansden nerv- 
ously. 

2 


i8 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


The next morning Leah appeared at the breakfast-table 
as usual. She was very pale, and under her lovely violet 
eyes lay dark shadows which told of a sleepless night. She 
greeted Mrs. Mansden in her gentle affectionate manner, and 
replying to inquiries regarding her health, said with an 
attempt at cheerfulness, “ I am quite as well as usual this 
morning and shall have to do extra lessons to-day, I im- 
agine, to make up for my lost time yesterday.” 

“You had better not tax yourself too severely, my 
love,” replied Mrs. Mansden, “ lest the headache comes on 
again.” 

The door unclosed and Miss Pinkham entered with her 
soft cat-like tread. 

“ I am so glad you are able to leave your room this morn- 
ing, my dear,” she said, addressing her pupil. “ I trust that 
we shall be able to go through our lessons to-day.” 

Leah thanked her, and just then a woman of perhaps 
thirty-three years of age entered bearing the coffee-tray, and 
the family proceeded with breakfast. As this last-named 
person will play an important part in the following events 
chronicled in these pages, I will ask indulgence to further 
introduce her to the reader’s attention. 

At ten years of age Martha Moore had been left an orphan, 

without home, means, or friends, and young Mrs. Mansden 

had taken the child into the shelter of her own home, and 

i 

been very kind to her indeed. She gave the orphaned girl 
a fair education, and, while bringing her up with gentle and 
refined manners, also taught her self-reliance and the art of 
good housekeeping in all its various branches. The girl had 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


l 9 


not only proven an apt scholar, but had become deeply 
attached to Colonel Mansden and his good wife. The early 
death of her benefactors, when Martha had reached the age 
of fourteen years, had been a terrible grief to the young 
girl. She showed her love and gratitude, however, by 
remaining in the home they had left, with Mrs. Mansden 
the elder, and lavishing her devotion upon the orphaned 
babe, who in return loved her with an affection not even 
equaled by that she bestowed upon her rather austere grand- 
parent. Sound judgment and practical sense were the chief 
characteristics of Martha’s nature. Her only weak point 
lay in her over-indulgence in gratifying Leah’s every whim 
as far as it was possible for her to do so. Her love for the 
child was something wonderful. She clung to her with an 
abiding tenacity that nothing could interfere with. Martha 
had, in her youth, many chances to marry, but for Leah’s sake 
she refused them all, and devoted her life to the child, and 
never murmured at her lonely lot. Being aware of the love- 
episode between Leah and Mr. Raymond, Martha in her 
heart blamed Mrs. Mansden for the lover’s banishment, and 
her sympathy was all on the side of the young couple, ren- 
dered miserable by the old lady’s mandate. So it came to 
pass that during the few weeks which elapsed between Mr. 
Raymond’s banishment from the Mansdens’ home and his 
departure to New York, Martha had been made the con- 
fidante of the lovers; and, much against her better judgment, 
be it said, had been induced to aid them in bringing about 
their clandestine meetings. That matters between the two 
had ever reached even the thought of a secret marriage 


20 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


never once occurred to the mind of the girl’s faithful 
friend, who had nothing but Leah’s peace of mind and ulti- 
mate happiness in view. The day of Mr. Raymond’s 
departure for New York was spent by Leah in her own 
room, the closely-locked doors of which did not unlock to 
any one, not even to the affectionate pleadings of Martha. 

Breakfast was over and Mrs. Mansden and the governess 
had gone out for a short drive before the lessons of the day 
were commenced. Leah often accompanied the two on these 
morning drives, but, begging this morning to be excused, she 
ran upstairs to her own room where she stood looking from 
her window across the lawn, which lay sparkling under the 
first heavy frost of the season. * 

A timid knock fell on her door, but she did not turn her 
head as she bade the intruder enter. 

Martha came softly into the room closing the door behind 
her, and, turning the key in the lock, said with great concern 
in her voice as she stood by the young girl’s side, “ What 
can I do for you this morning, my precious one ? ” 

“ Nothing, thank you, Martha,” answered Leah listlessly. 
“You must try to cheer up,” said the woman in a voice 
scarcely above a whisper. “ Your grandmother is aware that 
Mr. Raymond left for New York yesterday, and if you con- 
tinue to be so gloomy, she will be sure to think his going 
away is the cause of it.” 

“ I do not care if she does,” Leah said, turning to her 
friend with flashing eyes. “ Indeed, I wish she might this 
hour be able to realize all she has made me suffer by her 
interference and obstinacy.” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


21 


“ Your grandmother thought she was acting for the best, 
my child,” answered Martha soothingly. 

“ For the best ! — Yes, the best for herself, and her own 
ambitious plans,” returned Leah bitterly. “ Martha,” and 
the girl turned her pale face and flashing eyes full upon her 
friend’s face, “ I do not see how I am to continue acting 
the deceitful part I have acted towards my grandmother. 
Sometimes it seems to me that I must throw off the dis- 
guise which I have worn for weeks and let her see how much 
I blame and despise her for my unhappiness.” 

“ Hush, hush, my darling,” whispered Martha, surprised 
and shocked at the new spirit manifested in one so gentle as 
Leah had always been. “ I am surprised at you — you who 
have always been so kind and patient.” 

“ I do not feel either one or the other of these virtues this 
morning. I am so miserable. I wish I had eloped with Mr. 
Raymond as he wished me to do.” And the girl’s eyes 
wandered out upon the lawn again. 

“ Eloped with him,” echoed the now indignant Martha. 
“ Did Mr. Raymond try to persuade you to elope with him ? ” 
And then, without waiting for an answer, she continued vehe- 
mently, “ I know now that he is a villain, and I wish you had 
never seen his face.” 

“ Martha, how dare you say such things to me, you who 
have been the only mother I ever knew, and one whom I 
have trusted in all things.” 

The voice, which had rung out in an indignant tone, began 
to tremble as if suddenly freighted with tears, and the har- 
assed girl threw herself upon the bed and buried her face in 
the pillow. 


22 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


“ Do not be angry with me, Leah,” entreated Martha, as 
she knelt beside the prostrate form. “ You know, or ought 
to know, that there is nothing in this world that I desire so 
much as your happiness. For this I have gone against my 
own convictions of right, and have aided you in the deception 
practiced against Mrs. Mansden in regard to your true feel- 
ings towards Mr. Raymond. Leah, dear, dear child, bear 
with me, for my heart is filled with misgivings as to the honor 
of the man whom we have so fully trusted.” 

“ I do not see any reason why you should have so sud- 
denly become beset with apprehensions. Of what has Mr. 
Raymond been guilty that has shaken your faith in him ? ” 
And Leah turned her face from the protecting softness of the 
pillow as she listened eagerly for Martha’s answer. 

“ It was a discovery I made this morning ” returned the 
other mysteriously. 

“What did you discover?” and Leah raised herself to a 
sitting posture on the side of the bed, and looked nervously 
down into the upturned face of the woman kneeling beside 
her. 

For answer Martha drew from her pocket a pair of gentle- 
man’s riding gloves, and placing them on Leah’s lap, said 
sadly, “ I found one of these in your room this morning, 
Leah ; the other one just outside of the window on the 
ground, lying in the track made by a man’s boot. There 
can be no mistake as to whom the gloves belong, as they 
both bear Mr. Raymond’s name inside. Leah, do you now 
blame me for losing confidence in Mr. Raymond’s honor ? ” 

A crimson tide of shame crept over the girl’s face at the 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


2 3 


sight presented to her vision. For a moment it lingered 
there painfully and then receded, leaving her pale and calm. 

“ Think of the awful consequences, Leah, had your grand- 
mother or your governess made this discovery instead of 
myself. You would have been disgraced, and ruined, my 
darling ; for I know Mrs. Mansden too well not to believe that 
with this evidence of your guilt she would have driven you 
forever from her sight.” 

“ Not if I had told her what I now intend to reveal to you, 
Martha, for no human being shall question my virtue as long 
as I live to defend it,” replied the girl proudly. “ I admit that 
Mr. Raymond not only visited me in my own room the even- 
ing before he left this place for New York, but confess that 
he has frequently done so within the last two weeks. I also 
declare with my right hand upraised to heaven that he had a 
perfect right to do this, for Herbert Raymond is my lawful 
husband.” 


24 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER IV. 

Martha started to her feet and stood gazing dumfounded 
at Leah, as though she thought the girl had become suddenly 
insane. 

To hear this girl, whom Mrs. Mansden considered but a 
mere child, and not old enough to even think of entering 
into a marriage engagement, declare in a calm clear voice 
which carried conviction with it to her hearer’s heart, that 
she was already a wife, for a moment paralyzed the good 
Martha with astonishment. Then a mighty fear swept over 
her that this innocent being had been inveigled into a false 
marriage by a designing villain, and she found her voice to 
say fitfully, “ Oh, Leah, dear Leah, what have you been 
induced to do ? Oh, my darling, my darling, you have been 
ruined by this scoundrel. I know you have. For how do 
you know you are legally married ? He is only a stranger, 
and you are so young and innocent of the wicked ways of the 
world. Oh, my poor child, my poor child ! ” and Martha 
burst into a violent flood of tears, and wrung her hands in 
despair. 

Leah went up and laid her arms around the distressed 
woman’s neck, saying soothingly : “ Do not be alarmed, 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


2 5 


Martha ; you have no cause for fear. The only v r rong I 
have done was to be secretly married to one of the best and 
most noble of men. This wrong must lie at my grand- 
mother’s door, since she, by her cruelty, forced me into its 
committal.” 

“ How do you know that you are legally married, you poor 
thing ? ” reiterated Martha through her sobs. 

“ I will prove it to you, Martha, and then you will retract 
the unjust things you have said of my husband.” 

So saying, Leah proceeded to unlock a large trunk, and 
from its depths produced a folded parchment which she 
opened and displayed to the weeping woman. “ Read this 
and put your fears forever at rest concerning the legality 
of my marriage. See, I was married by our own beloved 
rector, Mr. White. Here is his signature, with the names of 
the old sexton and his wife, Mackay, as witnesses. Are you 
convinced now, my good Martha ? ” and the girl smiled up 
into the tear-stained face of her faithful friend, but Martha 
continued to weep dismally. 

“ Do you know what this is ? It is my wedding ring, 
Martha — my wedding ring ; ” and as she spoke Leah drew a 
diamond ring from where it had been hidden in the bosom 
of her dress, attached to a small gold chain, and slipped it 
proudly on her finger. 

“ No good will come of such a marriage, Leah, you will 
see ; it will only bring you anguish and woe,” Martha wailed, 
through her tears. 

“ Oh, do not prophesy such awful things,” cried the girl, 
half impatient at the way her friend was disposed to view the 


26 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


secret marriage. “ What harm can come of it even if my 
grandmother should discover my marriage and turn me out 
of doors. I can start any day to join my husband. Bless 
him ! you do not know how much he and I love one another, 
nor how good and noble he is.” 

“ No truly good and noble man would have taken advan- 
tage of your youth, inexperience, and love for him to decoy 
you into a secret marriage,” Martha returned sadly. 

“ Martha, I command you to hush ! I will not hear my 
husband spoken of so unjustly,” and Leah’s eyes flashed 
ominously. “ I had thought you were my best friend on 
earth, but I find even you will fail me when I most need 
your love and sympathy.” 

“ Don’t be angry with me, dear, or do me the injustice to 
think my love will ever fail you. While we both live, you 
shall ever be the dearest object in life to me. It is my 
great love for you, and anxiety for your welfare and happi- 
ness that causes my heart to be rent with apprehension for 
you,” Martha replied sadly. “ I have lived many years 
longer than yourself, Leah, and never yet have I known a 
secret marriage — and I have known many — that did not turn 
out badly. Remember, my child, that it is ‘ only a tangled 

web we poor mortals weave when we practice to deceive.’ ” 

« 

“ Well, what I have done, Martha, cannot be undone. I 
have no fears about its consequences, so do not preach any 
more, but say you will forgive me, and keep my secret.” 
Leah drew the sparkling gem from her finger as she spoke, 
and restored it to its hiding-place in her bosom ; then began 
to fold up the marriage certificate preparatory to putting it 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


27 

safely out of sight, for the two years it was to remain a buried 
secret. 

“ Forgive you ? Why, my lamb, I have not blamed you at 
all. Mr. Raymond is the one who should not only be cen- 
sured but punished for having persuaded you to act a dis- 
honorable part towards your guardian,” Martha replied. 
But Leah held her finger up, and shook her head warningly. 

“ Leah,” pleaded the woman, after a few moments’ silence, 
“ be advised by me, darling, and make such restitution as 
still lies in your power. Go at once to your grandmother, 
upon her return from her drive this morning, and confess 
your secret marriage. Do not deceive her longer ; just think 
of the awful deceit which you shall have to practice in keep- 
ing your secret from her for two whole years. Oh, Leah, I 
entreat you, do not blacken your innocent soul by trying to 
live a double life. Confess all, and throw yourself upon 
Mrs. Mansden’s mercy. Then, should the worst come, I 
will myself take you to your husband, if you know where he 
is to be found.” 

This earnest appeal struck a strange chord in the girl- 
wife’s heart, and something — perhaps it was the gentle voice 
of the spirit of her dead mother — admonished her not to let 
the advice which sprung from her loving friend’s heart go 
unheeded. She did not, however, answer Martha’s pathetic 
appeal, but, after depositing the marriage certificate in the 
trunk, stood looking out at the window, lost in reverie. 

The gray lawn with its leafless trees lay bathed in a mel- 
low cataract of autumnal sunlight before her eyes. A flock 
of tame pigeons were cooing and strutting about on the dry 


28 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


grass, or stood stretching their white wings lazily in the 
grateful warmth of the sun’s bright rays. A large white 
mastiff lay near them with his head on his paws, and watched 
the movements of the birds with great blinking eyes. A 
herd of sleek Jersey cows filed slowly past the gate, the bell 
on their leader tinkling musically on the still morning air. 

“ Leah, will you not take my advice ? ” and with the words 
of this appeal, Martha’s kind eyes, red and swollen with 
recent tears, looked imploringly into the troubled face of the 
young girl. 

“ You must give me time for consideration, Martha,” she 
answered wearily. “ You certainly know that when once 
the vials of my grandmother’s wrath are opened upon my 
defenseless head, it will be no light thing to endure.” 

The dog in the yard suddenly raised his head and sniffed 
the air, then sprang to his feet, and broke into loud barking. 
The pigeons rose with a muffled whir of their white wings, 
and sailed gracefully away through the clear atmosphere. A 
horseman galloped to the gate, hastily dismounted, threw 
the reins over the hitching-post, and, entering the gate, 
walked rapidly towards the house. 

“Dr. West is coming,” said Leah. “Go down and receive 
him, Martha. If he wishes to see grandmother, ask him to 
step into the parlor and wait. She will return from her 
drive presently.” 

“ I hope,” Leah said to herself as Martha left the room, 
“grandmother does not think that I need a physician’s serv- 
ices, and has sent Dr. West to call on me. Oh dear S I am 
half inclined to take Martha’s advice, and make a clean 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


2 9 


breast of everything, and risk the consequences. Oh, grand- 
mother’s wrath will be something terrible ! Well, there is 
one comforting thought, — if she denies me her forgiveness, 
I will go to New York and join my husband at once. I do 
hope, though, that she will not be very cruel and unforgiving, 
for I love her dearly, and she has no one to blame for my 
disobedience but herself.” 

The girl drew her wedding ring again from its hiding- 
place, and stood idly flashing the diamond in the sunbeams 
which streamed in at the window and fell around her like a 
mantle of light, as she communed with her own heart. 

The door behind her unclosed, and Martha, reappearing, 
said : 

“ Doctor West has asked to see you, Leah.” 

“ Why did you not tell him that I am not ill ? ” the girl 
asked emphatically. 

“ I did, but he said his call was not a professional one,” 
Martha replied. 

The girl hastily returned her wedding ring to its hiding- 
place, and descended to the parlor where the family physi- 
cian was impatiently waiting her coming. 


3 ° 


HER SHADOWED LIFE 


CHAPTER V. 

‘ Good-morning, Dr. West, I am pleased to see you ; ” and 
Leah advanced and laid her small hand into the broad palm 
of the old family physician, whom she could not remember 
when she did not know and love. Dr. West returned the 
salutation, but his usual cheerful manner was absent, and in 
its place was the uneasy air of one who had a disagreeable 
duty to perform. 

“ Please be seated, Doctor,” the young lady continued. 
“ I regret that my grandmother has not yet returned from 
her morning drive ; she has been gone longer than usual 
this morning, and I am expecting her every moment.” 

She drew aside the silken and lace drapery from the win- 
dow as she spoke, and glanced down the road to see if the 
carriage might not be coming. 

Instead of seating himself the visitor came and stood 
beside her, while he scanned the road a moment with an 
anxious look in his kind eyes. Then, turning suddenly, he 
took Leah’s hand and said gently 

“ My mission here this morning, my dear child, is a sad 
one, and I am at a loss to find words to prepare you for a 
sorrow which you must soon meet ; and I hope you will have 
sufficient fortitude to meet it bravely, remembering that this 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


3 1 


life is always beset with trials which may spring upon us 
without warning, at any moment, and we can only look for 
strength to bear them from the Great Hand which, no doubt, 
sends such afflictions upon us for our good, hard as they are 
to bear.” 

' Leah listened, with eyes wide open in amazement, to this 
lengthy prologue, and at its close cried out anxiously, “ Why, 
what do you mean, Dr. West ? ” and she grew pallid to the 
very lips as her thoughts flew to her absent husband. Was 
he ill or dying, and had he sent to bid her throw off all dis- 
guise and come to him at once ? 

“ Oh, Doctor, something awful has happened. I know it by 
your words and manner. I pray you tell me at once, I can 
stand anything better than this awful alarm and suspense.” 
She pressed her hand to her heart, trembling visibly, and 
the physician led her to a sofa and gently forced her to be 
seated as he said, in a voice shaken by emotion : 

“ My poor child, can you bear it if I tell that you are now 
indeed alone, since God has seen fit to deprive you of your 
only natural protector, your only living relative ? ” 

She looked pitifully up into the kind face bending over 
her. 

“ What do you mean ? ” she gasped with ashen lips ; “ only 
an hour ago my grandmother, apparently in the best of 
health, left the house for a short drive. Oh, surely nothing 
has happened to her in that short space of time ? ” 

“ Only what will sooner or later happen to us all, Leah,” 
he returned very gently, as tears swam in his eyes. “Your 
grandmother is dead, my child.” 


32 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ Dead, dead ! ” she gasped, as if the physician’s words 
had bewildered her brain. “ Why do you say this, Dr. West ? ” 
she cried at length. “ It is a most cruel jest; my grand- 
mother is alive and well. She will be here in a few mo- 
ments, and reprove you for your cruel joke.” 

“ Leah,” he said sadly and impressively, “ your grandmother 
will never reprove or applaud any one again in this life, for 
she died nearly an hour ago sitting in her carriage in front of 
my office, where she was waiting to speak to me concerning 
your own health.” 

The furniture in the room began to float before the girl’s 
dazed eyes, and the physician’s kindly voice grew lower and 
lower, until his last words fell on his listener’s unconscious 
ears. 

“ Poor child, it is better so,” said the physician to himself, 
as he took the light limp form in his arms and bore it up- 
stairs. 

After a few briefly spoken words of explanation he resigned 
the unconscious sufferer into Martha’s kind care. 

Two days later all that was mortal of Mrs. Mansden was 
laid to rest in the bosom of mother earth, and Leah was, as 
the physician had said, “ indeed alone.” 

No mother could have more conscientiously fulfilled her 
duty towards her child than Mrs. Mansden had, according 
to her conception of right, filled a mother’s place to her 
orphaned granddaughter. 

True, she had been stately in her manner to the child, and 

» 

inclined to be far more exacting in her old-fashioned ideas 
of propriety than modern mothers are. To this must be 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


33 


attributed the first wrong step the young girl had taken in 
yielding to a secret marriage. 

But Leah had bestowed upon her grandmother a wealth 
of love despite the firm discipline to which she had been 
subjected at her hands, and the lady’s sudden death was a 
mighty grief to the young girl’s affectionate heart. 

She had received two letters from her young husband after 
his departure, one written e7i route to New York, and one on 
his arrival in that city. 

They were both overflowing with expressions of love for 
the young wife from whom circumstances had so cruelly 
separated him, and he spoke fondly and repeatedly of the glad 
day when he might claim her as his own before the world. 
This last letter had reached heron the sad day of Mrs. Mans- 
den’s death, — this had sustained her in her sudden bereave- 
ment. 

She could not write him on that day, or the next, but in a 
few days after Mrs. Mansden’s funeral, when the kind neigh- 
bors had returned to their homes, and Miss Pinkham had 
been dismissed, and she was alone with the faithful Martha, 
she sent him a telegram informing him briefly of her loss, and 
then spent nearly the whole day writing to him, and implor- 
ing to be allowed to join him immediately. 

She sent the dispatch early in the morning and directed it 
to the address in the city, which he had given her, but before 
noon of the same day it was returned to her with the infor- 
mation that the person addressed could not be found. 
Other telegrams were sent the next day, and the next, with 
the same result, and ere long the letters which she had 
3 


34 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


written and sent to the same address began to return as 
uncalled for. The days so filled with anguish for the young 
wife began to lengthen into weeks, with still no news to quiet 
the deadly apprehension which was lashing her soul into 
unrest. 

“ Oh, Martha ! I know he is dead, for nothing but death 
would cause this silence.” 

Then Martha, not daring to express the suspicions she 
felt concerning Mr. Raymond’s integrity and honor, could 
only fold the poor, shivering, weeping child in her motherly 
arms, while her tears fell in a perfect flood of sympathy for 
the young being, who, her heart misgave her, had been 
deceived by a villain. 

The annuity which had been Mrs. Mansden’s, and which 
had enabled herself and granddaughter to live almost in 
luxury, ceased at the old lady’s death. So now there was 
nothing left for the lonely orphan except the home left by 
her father and the personal property which had belonged to 
her grandmother. 

Martha had saved a few hundred dollars of her own, and 
this she pressed upon Leah to use. 

“ No, Martha, I will not use your money, dear good friend ; 
keep it for your own wants. The personal property which 
belonged to my grandmother must be sold, and will no 
doubt bring several hundred dollars, and I have one thousand 
dollars which my husband, God bless him ! gave me the 
day before he left ; and this will suffice for my needs until 
I can get some kind of employment.” And the tears gushed 
forth in a copious shower, as they ever did at the mention of 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


35 


her young husband, whom she had really begun to mourn as 
dead. Two months more dragged their weary length by, 
and still no tidings came to the anxious women in the lonely 
home, to in any degree relieve the suspense which was 
becoming unbearable. 

The personal property had been converted into money, and 
they had nothing to do but wait and pray for news that never 
came. 

In Mr. Raymond’s letter, written upon his arrival in New 
York, he mentioned that by his physician’s advice he would 
not return to the northern medical college, where he had 
been in attendance when his health failed, but would ma- 
triculate at some college in the south, the exact location of 
which he had not yet decided upon, but would inform her as 
soon as his decision was made. Leah wrote to the college 
which Mr. Raymond had attended in New York, and to every 
college in the south of which she could obtain the address, 
but no student by the name she mentioned was in attendance 
at any one of them. 

Driven to despair, Leah decided to leave her home. 

“ I shall go mad, Martha,” she said, “ if I remain here in 
this state of inactivity.” 

“ Where do you want to go, my darling ? Just name the 
place and I will go with you, even if it be to the wilds of 
Africa,” said the faithful friend. 

“ I think I shall go to New York ; perhaps I may get some 
clew there to the fate of my dear one.” 

“ Well, to New York we will go then. It is a large city, and 
like all such, is filled with wickedness and selfishness. But 


3 6 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


never fear, I will take care of you and guard you from harm, 
and we will not suffer as long as our money holds out, and 
when what we have is exhausted I will work for more/’ 
declared Martha, as she drew the young head to her motherly 
bosom and wiped Leah’s tears away. “ But you must not 
grieve and cry so much, dear,” she continued. “ It will do you 
no good ; on the contrary, it will do you a great deal of 
harm, for it will not only spoil your good looks, but it 
will ruin your health. Things look rather dark, I’ll admit, 
but we must be brave and meet such trials with courage, and 
God will provide ways and means for us if we are brave, ener- 
getic, and true. So cheer up now, dearie, and set to work 
and help me to get our things in readiness, and we will lock 
up the house with its furniture and go and stay, for a time 
at least, in New York, if you would rather go there,” and 
Martha kissed the pale cheek of her darling and bustled 
away to begin preparations for their departure. Luckily 
for the sorrow-stricken and almost distracted young wife, 
Martha belonged to the noble type of womanhood which 
resolutely turns its face away from the shadows that often 
obscure life’s pathway, and in her search for the silver lining 
of every dark cloud she always found peace for her soul, 
while with warm heart and energetic hands she set to work 
with slow but regular stroke to find the way out of every 
difficulty that confronted her. I am sure, had Martha been in 
our mother Eve’s place when the edict went forth which ban- 
ished our first parents from the Garden of Eden, she would 
have said cheerfully : “ Well, Adam, it is pretty hard, I 

know ; but we deserve it for our foolish disobedience, and 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


37 


there is no use to spend time in fretting over what is past recall ; 
so cheer up, and we will go to work and make the most of 
the good things left to us.” 

And in the busy days which followed, while she strove with 
all her might and main to make a home on earth which should 
as nearly as possible resemble the lost Eden, she would have 
grown to believe that after all the banishment was for the 
the best, and have found peace and contentment in the home 
which had been created, with God’s favor, by her own and 
Adam’s industry and frugality. 

So in one week from the day that the decision had been 
made for the sojourn in New York, the key was ‘turned in 
the lock of the old brick house where Leah’s life had been 
spent, and the pair took the cars which were to carry them 
away from those familiar, pastoral scenes, for many and 
many a year. 


38 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER VI. 

In a snug little cottage, surrounded by a small inclosed 
yard, situated within twenty minutes’ ride of the great me- 
tropolis of New York, two women are seated in a tiny sitting- 
room in front of a coal-fire burning brightly in the polished 
grate. 

The furnishings of the room were cheap and plain, but 
the scrupulous neatness and good taste that are not always 
shown amid such humble environments, would strike the 
eyes of the beholder at once, and bear evidence that the oc- 
cupants of this humble apartment were people of refinement, 
although they might be the children of poverty. In a large 
wooden arm-chair, cushioned with bright chintz, and drawn 
near the fire, sat a young girl, holding tenderly in her arms a 
beautiful babe perhaps two months old. The fingers of her 
right hand were toying caressingly with the dark brown 
rings of silky hair which adorned the child’s head, and ever 
and anon she pressed her lips to the warm velvety cheeks 
resting close to her bosom. 

Her companion, a middle-aged woman with a most kindly 
face, let her eyes rest for awhile on the pretty picture pre- 
sented by the young mother and child ; then, with a smothered 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


39 


sigh, she turned and took up some sewing which lay on the 
table, and, seating herself at a sewing machine which stood 
near the south window of the room, sat down to work, and 
soon the busy whir of the machine fell upon the stillness of 
the room. 

The young mother pressed the babe closer to her bosom 
and sat gazing into the glowing coals before her, as though 
she sought to read her destiny in their delicate tracery. 

At length she arose and deposited her precious burden in 
the small wicker cradle which stood by her side, with furnish- 
ings downy and white enough to have held the slumbering 
form of a baby prince of the royal blood. 

She tucked the little form snugly in its white flannels and 
pressed kiss after kiss upon its rosy cheeks. Then she went 
to the worker’s side and resting her delicate white hands on 
the polished table of the sewing machine and leaning slightly 
upon it, said : “ Martha, I have decided to answer the ad- 

vertisement for a private secretary, and think I had best go 
at once while the baby is sleeping.” 

The woman addressed lifted a pair of troubled eyes to the 
young face as she answered : “ I wish that I might be able 

to persuade you not to do this, Leah.” 

“ But, Martha, how are we to live ? Our money is almost ex- 
hausted, and we must work or starve,” the girl said earnestly. 

“ If one of us must go to strangers for employment, Leah,” 
Martha answered, “ it seems more fitting that I should go, and 
let you remain at home and take care of the child. The 
furnished rooms we have let to the lady-teachers will bring 
enough money to pay the rent, and surely I can earn enough 


40 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


at sewing or some other employment to defray our other ex- 
penses of living.” 

“ No, no, don’t mention such a thing,” the girl cried, “ I will 
never consent to stay at home, Martha, and permit you at 
your age to go forth and face the world for my sake. Dearly 
as I love my poor fatherless baby, I will place him in an 
orphanage before you shall take this burden upon yourself. 
You have already done a thousand times more for me than I 
shall ever be able to repay, and I should as soon think of 
sending my own mother out to seek employment to support 
me, were she living, as to permit you to do so. I am not 
sure I can get a position that I shall be able to fill satisfac- 
torily, but I shall try, and if I fail the slave’s life of sewing 
women is still open to us, and we will bring the work home 
and toil together.” 

The ring of decision in the young voice convinced Martha 
that further remonstrance would be useless, so she wiped 
the tears from her eyes which Leah’s speech had caused to 
flow freely, and, getting up, went to a small wardrobe which 
stood in the room, and bringing the young woman’s hat and 
cloak, began to prepare her for the object she had in view. 
But her tears flowed afresh as she looked into the pale deli- 
cate face before her, and thought of the trials in store for the 
young creature so unused to the selfish ways of the world. 

“ Poor child, poor child ! ” she murmured. “ I never ex- 
pected to see the day when it would be necessary for you to 
go out in a large city in search of employment. It almost 
breaks my heart.” 

“ Why do you feel so badly about it, Martha ? ” replied 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


41 


Leah as she drew on her gloves. “ Am I better than thou- 
sands and thousands of other women who belong to the 
great army of bread-winners ? Indeed I am not, nor yet half 
so good as many of them, for I brought my trouble upon my- 
self, in a measure, by my own disobedience. Now dry your 
tears, dear, and do not pity me because I am willing to work. 
I should more need your pity were I not willing, or unable 
to help myself and you. Take good care of the little one; I 
shall not be gone long, and pray while I am absent that I 
may be successful in getting the position, instead of griev- 
ing because I have gone to try to secure it.” 

She stepped lightly to the cradle and bent fondly over the 
sleeping child for a moment, then kissing Martha affection- 
ately, softly left the room, and in a moment the front door 
closed upon her, and Martha from the window stood watch- 
ing the slender, graceful form of the young girl as she bent 
her footsteps towards the busy bustling city. 

It was a beautiful day in early winter. The air was crisp 
and bracing. The sun hung midway in a cloudless sky, and 
the fallen leaves rustled beneath the girl’s quick footsteps as 
she sped along with a prayer in her heart that the situation 
for which she was on her way to apply might not ere this 
have been granted to some other more fortunate applicant. 

Martha replenished the smoldering fire in the grate, and 
softly swung the cradle, the occupant of which had begun 
to stir uneasily upon its snowy pillows. The babe slept 
again, and the woman stooped and picked up the morning 
edition of the New York Herald , from where Leah had 
dropped it beside the baby’s cradle, and after having ad- 


42 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


justed her eye-glasses, she ran her eyes over the want column 
until they fell upon the advertisement for a female secretary, 
to answer which had been Leah’s business to the city this 
morning. 

“ Wanted ” — she read — “ A young woman of pleasing man- 
ners and refined breeding, who would be willing to go south 
with her employer as private secretary and companion to a 
lady. To the right person a good home and generous salary 
will be given. References given and required. Apply to 
Room 27, Astor House.” 

“ Leah surely did not notice that references were re- 
quired of the applicant,” mused Martha, “ for these she is 
fully aware she cannot furnish. Poor girl ! ” and Martha 
fell into a painful train of thought concerning the hard 
lines which had fallen to the lot of her darling. 

The lengthening sunbeams stole in through the parted 
muslin curtains and lay in a mellow shaft of brightness upon 
the cheap ingrain carpet. The small clock on the mantel 
ticked noisily on, measuring off the seconds, minutes, and 
hours which come and go despite all earth’s sorrows and 
perplexities. 

A jar of mignonette blooming on the window-sill filled 
the room with a sweet fragrance, while a canary bird, which 
had been left in the room for safe-keeping during its owner’s 
absence, by one of the young lady-teachers occupying the 
room above, burst forth into shrill trills and quavers which 
made the sleeping babe sigh and move uneasily in its downy 
nest. 

One year had elapsed since Leah and her faithful friend 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


43 


Martha Moore had bidden farewell to the red brick house 
which so long had been their home in the western town. 

They came directly to New York and rented the cottage 
where we now find them. They had money enough to de- 
fray their modest expenses for a year, and Leah fondly hoped 
that long ere that time should expire she would find her 
husband, or at least find some clew that would lead to the 
discovery of his fate. She had his parents’ New York ad- 
dress, although, following his request at parting, she forbore 
to address him at his home. Upon her arrival in New York 
she resolved to arm herself with her marriage certificate, go 
boldly to his parents, and demand news of her loved one, 
for she was almost mad with anxiety concerning her hus- 
band’s fate. She was thankful that her spotless character 
she could prove even to the most exacting stranger. 

So she had resolved to lay bare to them the story 
of her early wooing, which resulted in a secret marriage 
to their son, together with her husband’s mysterious disap- 
pearance and silence since his arrival in New York. The 
second day after her arrival in the city, accompanied by 
Miss Moore, she called at the elder Raymond’s residence. 
They found the elegant home, situated on an aristocratic 
street, closed and deserted. In despair Leah called upon a 
noted detective, whose aid she sought in ferreting out the 
case. 

The detective’s fees, however, were large and the girl-wife’s 
means were small. So every circumstance combined to keep 
her in ignorance in regard to a matter of vital importance 
to her future welfare. 


44 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


To Martha’s suggestion that Leah insert a notice in , the 
personal column of some daily paper hoping that it might 
meet the recreant’s eye, she at last yielded a reluctant 
consent. When the notice appeared again and again, how- 
ever, without eliciting a reply, the girl said sadly to the disap- 
pointed woman, “ I knew that it would be useless. If my 
husband were living he would have remained true to me.” 

Martha and Leah formed no acquaintances, and lived as 
much apart from the busy throng surrounding them as if they 
were still isolated in the wilds of their far-away western 
home. 

The only recreation in which they indulged was an occa- 
sional walk in a pretty park situated not far distant from their 
cottage. 

During those walks they repelled all overtures for acquaint- 
anceship made by other frequenters of the place so coldly 
and decidedly that the attempts were never renewed. 

Leah’s childish beauty was fast being replaced by the 
riper beauty of young womanhood, and many were the curi- 
ous glances directed towards this beautiful and mysterious 
young person, who, attired always in a dress of black, held 
herself so proudly aloof from the world around her. Ere 
long, to Leah’s dismay and Martha’s grief, the unwelcome 
fact was forced upon them that to the unhappy young wife 
would soon come the care and responsibility of motherhood. 
It was now the good sense of Martha and her courageous 
nature came to the front, enabling her to shield and sustain 
the girl, whose one false step was already yielding such a 
bitter harvest of care and sorrow. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


45 


To the physician who had been summoned in attendance 
upon Leah, and the only person who was permitted to intrude 
upon the privacy of the two women’s lives, Martha explained 
that the patient was a young widow bereft of her husband in 
the first month of her married life. The physician may or 
may not have accepted the elder woman’s explanation as 
true. 

If, however, he surmised that this case was only that of 
“another unfortunate,” who had loved not only unwisely but 
too well, the suspicion was safely locked in the repository of 
his warm, true heart, kept sacred to his professional secrets, 
and he gave no token of his incredulity of Martha’s state- 
ment. 

His business was to aid, soothe, and sustain the helpless 
young sufferer through the peril of this crisis in her life, and 
not to pry into the secrets of her past, or add to her present 
sorrow by the manifestation of any uncharitable suspicion 
which might lurk in his breast. 


4-6 


HER SHADOWED LI EE. 


CHAPTER VII. 

When Leah reached the Astor House, with a loudly beat- 
ing heart she ascended the marble steps and made her way 
to the magnificently appointed office. Seeing a clerk who 
happened at that moment to be at leisure, she approached 
him and asked to be shown to room 27. The man eyed her 
sharply, then calling a bell-boy directed him to conduct the 
lady to room No. 27. 

The boy bowed, and motioning the lady to follow him, 
stepped into the elevator, which soon landed them on the 
second floor ; and in a moment more Leah stood in the lofty 
corridor in front of the designated number. The door 
opened in answer to her timid tap, and a fine-looking gentle- 
man stood before her. 

He was perhaps thirty-five years of age, very stylishly 
dressed, and with the ease and bearing of a perfectly well- 
bred man. 

“ I have called in answer to the advertisement f°f a 
private secretary,” Leah said in a low voice, while her heart- 
beats quickened until they were audible to hei ears. 

The advertisement for a private secretary ? ” he asked, in 
rather a bewildered way, and then, as if suddenly remember- 
ing something which he had for a moment forgotten, he 
« 0 





This young lady has called in answer to your advertisement.”— Page 47. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


47 


added, “Oh, yes ; I beg your pardon. I had forgotten that 
my wife advertised for a companion or something of the sort. 
Pray walk in, miss, and I will inform my wife of your call. ,, 

The room Leah entered was a luxuriously furnished 
private parlor. 

The gentleman motioned the caller to a chair, and cross- 
ing the room with noiseless footsteps, disappeared behind a 
heavy portiere which concealed a doorway from view. 

In a few moments he returned, and approaching Leah, 
who had risen to her feet at the gentleman’s reappearance, 
said kindly : “ You may come with me at once, if you please, 
madam. The lady will receive you in her own room.” 

He pushed aside the portiere and Leah followed him into 
an elegantly appointed bedroom. 

“ My dear,” the gentleman said, approaching a small deli- 
cate-looking woman seated near a window with some sheets of 
manuscript in her hands, which she had evidently been read- 
ing, “ this young lady has called in answer to your adver- 
tisement of this morning.” 

The lady looked up and smiled on the applicant, and the 
gentleman rolled a chair near where his wife was sitting and 
invited the young lady to be seated. Then, turning to his 
wife, he said tenderly, “ My dear, I must really be off, or I 
shall be late for my appointment to meet the party of gentle- 
men at the Grand Central Hotel. I shall return in time to 
take luncheon with you. In the meantime do not exert your- 
self too much or we shall have you ill again.” 

He bent his handsome head over the small white hand of 
his wife which he had taken in his own as he spoke, and 


48 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


touching his lips to it, laid it tenderly down ; then, bowing to 
the caller, he left the apartment, and soon Leah heard the 
front door close after him. 

The lady laid down the manuscript, and turning a pair of 
lovely soft dark brown eyes upon Leah, said gently, “You came 
in answer to my advertisement ? ” Leah bowed, and the lady 
continued : “ What are your qualifications for the office you 

seek ? ” 

“ I have had no experience in this capacity, madam,” replied 
the applicant, “ but I have a fair education, and understand 
French and German very well, am quick at figures, and write a 
fair hand,” Leah replied modestly. 

“ You understand, of course, that the person whom I 
engage must be willing to accompany my family and myself 
to our home in Florida,” the lady said. 

“ I understand, madam, and, should I be fortunate 
enough to please you, would be glad to accompany you.” 

The lady looked at her thoughtfully for a few moments 
and said : “ Still, you appear very young to go so far from 

home with strangers, and perhaps leave your relatives be- 
hind you. I fear you might grow homesick.” 

“ I have neither home nor relatives,” the girl replied 
sadly. 

“ Indeed,” said the lady sympathetically. “ How long have 
you been an orphan ? ” 

“ Since my infancy,” was the reply. 

“ You have references, of course,” said the lady. A faint 
blush mounted to the girl’s face as she answered : 

“ I regret very much, madam, that I have not. I came to 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


49 


New York from my western home in company with an old 
friend whom I have known all my life, and who has always 
been as a mother to me. Since we have been here, we have 
lived in great seclusion, so I know no one to whom I might 
apply for references. If, however,” she added eagerly as 
the lady made no reply, “ you would give me time, I can send 
to my old home, where many prominent people reside who 
will give you satisfactory evidence in regard to my char- 
acter.” 

The lady smiled at the artless reply, and said : “ Did I 
understand you to say that you have not been employed in 
any capacity since coming to New York ? ” • 

“ I have not, madam. When I came here, I came on 
business, and did not expect to remain long in the city, but 
the business upon which I came detained me, and did not 
turn out as I had hoped it would ; so now I am thrown 
wholly upon my own resources. It has only recently 
become necessary for me to seek employment. This is 
the first application I have ever made to any one.” 

“ You will find my work rather hard,” replied the lady. 
“ Besides attending to a large correspondence you will be 
required to copy much manuscript, and write from dictation. 
I confess I am pleased with your appearance, and feel 
inclined to give you a trial any way, although I know in so 
doing I should be guilty of rather an unbusinesslike pro- 
ceeding in thus taking you wholly on trust.” She rose as 
she spoke, and going to a table, spread out a small portfolio, 
and placing pen and ink beside it said gently, “Will you 

kindly give me a specimen of your penmanship ? ” 

4 


5 ° 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ Certainly, Madam.” And Leah rose with alacrity, and, 
pulling off her gloves, sat down and dipped the pen in the 
ink. 

“ Please write your name and address.” 

The girl wrote : 

“ Leah Mansden, 

“4177 Cottage Grove Ave., 

“ New York.” 

“Now write my name and address as I shall give it to 
you,” continued the lady. 

“ Mrs. Geo. Gilbert, 

“ St. Augustine, 

“ Florida.” 

“ There,” laughed the lady as she took up the sheet and 
examined the writing critically, “ we have killed two birds with 
one stone, as the old saying goes, for here I have a specimen 
of your penmanship, and we have each other’s name and 
address. You write a very good hand, Miss Mansden ; 
neither too large nor too small.” 

“ I am happy that my penmanship pleases you, Mrs. 
Gilbert,” the girl said, her heart warming towards the charm- 
ing lady who seemed inclined to deal so generously with 
her, and whose kindly manner had put her so much at ease. 

“ If I were to engage you,” said Mrs. Gilbert, “ how soon 
could you be ready to accompany me south ? ” 

“ In a very few days,” Leah answered promptly. 

“ Now, one thing more ; we have not yet spoken in regard to 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


5 1 


the salary. If I find a young woman who can fill the position 
satisfactorily, I will give her a comfortable, pleasant home and 
a salary of one thousand dollars per annum. Her hours of 
labor will be from ten a. m. to four p. m. and aside from this 
the time shall be her own, unless I should desire her to read 
to me. By the way, Miss Mansden, is reading aloud one of 
your accomplishments ? ” 

“ Of this you will have to be your own judge, Mrs. Gilbert, 
after you have heard me make the attempt,” replied the girl 
modestly. 

“ Suppose you allow me to judge now,” the lady an- 
swered. Picking up a book of poems which lay on the table, 
and opening it at random, she handed it to Leah and then sat 
down, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her head 
on her hand, prepared to listen. In a clear, sweetly modulated 
voice Leah read : 

“ We shape ourselves the joy or fear 
Of which the coming life is made, 

And fill our future atmosphere 
With sunshine or with shade. 

The tissues of the life to be 

We weave with colors all our own; 

And, in the field of Destiny, we 
Reap as we have sown.” 

She paused and glanced up from the page before her, into 
the kindly face of the listener, and the lady noted the 
sudden pallor which overspread her face. 

“ You read very well,” she commented, “very well, indeed. 
“ Let me hear you again, please.” 

The melodious voice again broke the silence— 


5 2 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ The dear God hears and pities all, 

He knoweth all our wants; 

And what we blindly ask of him 
His love withholds or grants. 

And so I sometimes think our prayers 
Might well be merged in one, 

And nest and perch, and hearth and church 
Repeat, 4 Thy will be done.’ ” 

The young voice trembled slightly when the last stanza 
was reached, and Mrs. Gilbert took the book from the reader’s 
hand and returned it to its place on the table. 

44 You are indeed a beautiful and touching reader,” she 
said kindly. 44 Thank you very much. I have your address 
here,” referring to the paper she held in her hand, 44 and will 
let you know my decision in regard to the engagement to- 
morrow morning. I would engage you at once, but I have 
made it one of the rules of my married life to never take 
any step of even small importance without first consulting 
my husband. In the meantime, you will also have time to 
think over it and decide whether you are pleased with the 
salary I offer and with the requirements of the position.” 

The lady rose as she spoke, and Leah, feeling that the 
interview was at an end, rose also. Mrs. Gilbert accom- 
panied her to the hall-door, opened it for her to pass out, 
and shook hands with her as she bade her good-morning ; and 
Leah was soon on the busy street, with footsteps bent in the 
direction of her cottage home. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


53 


CHAPTER VIII. 

The clock was striking the hour of noon when Leah, with 
her delicate face flushed from her rapid walk in the cold, 
crisp morning air, entered the cottage sitting-room where the 
faithful Martha still sat with her hand on the baby’s cradle. 
The beautiful rosy child still slept, smiling often in its peace- 
ful slumber. 

Sleep on, beautiful child, happy in the dreams of thy innocent 
infancy, watched over by the holy angels who would gladly 
shield thee from all harm and keep thee as pure and innocent 
as thou art now. As yet thou art as happy as those heavenly 
visitors bending over thee. Alas, that the day must soon 
come when the storm-clouds which are even now gathering 
upon the horizon of thy young life will burst upon thee ! 

Martha placed a chair before the fire, and when Leah had 
wearily thrown herself into it, she took off the girl’s hat and 
smoothed down her disordered hair with tender hands as she 
asked, 

“ What success did you have, dear ? ” 

“ Better than I had expected, Martha,” she answered hope- 
fully. 

“ Tell me all about it,” said Martha eagerly, and her hands 


54 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


paused in their caressing touch on the silky hair as she 
listened for the answer. 

“ I have not as yet secured the situation, but the lady to 
whom I applied gave me reason to hope that I would be 
engaged,” and then Leah gave her friend a minute account 
of her morning’s mission. 

“ Did you tell Mrs. Gilbert that you were a widow and also 
a mother, Leah ? ” asked Martha at the end of the girl’s 
recital. 

Leah’s eyes fell before the questioning ones of Martha, and 
a burning blush suffused her face as she replied in a chok- 
ing voice : 

“ Martha, I could not tell her that — it would involve too 
much. I was thinking all the way home, and only one way 
seems open to me : that is for you to keep house and take care 
of the child, dear friend, even as you did of his unfortunate 
mother before him. If I secure the position I shall get a 
generous salary, and you shall have it all except the small 
sum I shall require for my actual necessities. I shall make 
arrangements soon to have you both follow me to the south, 
so I may come to see you often ; for the lady said that 
except when she might require me to read to her, the time 
would be my own after four o’clock in the afternoon. Then 
I shall always have Sunday to spend with you and my darling 
baby. Will you do this for me, Martha ? Dear, dear Martha, 
to whom I already owe so much, can you do this much more 
for me ? ” and the tender blue eyes, with their long dark 
lashes wet with tears, looked appealingly into the face of their 
only friend. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


55 


“You know, my darling, that there is nothing within my 
power which I would not undertake for your dear sake,” 
the woman replied, “but you also know, dear, that I have a 
horror of deception in any form. If you will take my ad- 
vice, you will — if Mrs. Gilbert sends for you — lay your whole 
past history before her, omitting nothing whatever that the 
accidental discovery of would cause you shame and humil- 
iation. Tell her all about your secret marriage, show her 
your marriage certificate and wedding ring, and tell her of 
the mysterious disappearance of your husband, and of the 
birth of your child. You have done nothing, dear, that 
you need be ashamed to acknowledge, except having made a 
secret marriage, and there can be no disgrace attached to 
that. Tell the lady that I will take care of the child, and 
pledge yourself to a faithful performance of your duties 
while in her employ, and trust me, Leah, that her woman’s 
heart will be so stirred with pity for your unfortunate lot that 
she will be more likely to engage you than she is now, when 
she knows nothing about your sorrow.” 

“ Martha,” Leah replied, “ all women are not kind and 
sympathetic as yourself, and in all probability a recital of my 
misfortunes would have the effect to make Mrs. Gilbert dis- 
trust me and decide that she did not require my services. 
She would say at once, ‘ A girl who could so wantonly deceive 
her natural guardian is not worthy of trust,’ and that would 
be the end of it. The keeping of my past life a secret 
from my employer can in nowise affect her. I owe her no 
explanation of any folly into which I may have been led. 
As long as I know my character is pure, and am faithful in 


56 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


the discharge of my duties, as her hired servant, what has 
she to do with my past ? ” 

And against all Martha’s remonstrance and wise advice, 
Leah remained firm in her decision to still keep the man- 
tle of secrecy thrown over her unfortunate marriage. 

Martha shook her head, and sighed wearily. “ No good 
will come of this deception, Leah. Believe me, it will only 
bring more sorrow to your lot.” 

The look of distress that swept over the sweet young face 
at the prophecy so moved the good woman’s heart that she 
kissed the quivering lips contritely, and resolved to hold her 
peace and let the girl use her own judgment in regard to 
the matter. 

So another link was added to the chain which Leah had, 
with her own hands, forged, and the galling weight of which 
must be borne by her for many a weary year. 

A note came from Mrs. Gilbert the next morning, saying 
that she had decided to engage Miss Mansden in the 
capacity of private secretary and companion, and named the 
date when the family would start for their Florida home. 
Miss Mansden might join them at their hotel at once, or she 
might, if it best suited her convenience, join them upon the 
day of their departure, which was a week later. The lady 
further added that all the expenses of the secretary’s journey 
would be defrayed, and the amount would be deducted from 
her salary. 

Leah’s heart almost failed her now that she knew the affair 
was settled between herself and Mrs. Gilbert, and the fiat 
had gone forth, that she should be separated from her child. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


57 


She pressed the little thing again and again to her aching 
heart, while her hot tears fell fast on the nestling golden 
head, so soon to be deprived of a mother’s care. She was 
aroused from her grief by the voice of the practical Martha 
saying : 

“You have chosen for yourself, Leah, and have already 
pledged your services to Mrs. Gilbert, so now that you have 
put your hand to the plough, you must not look back. You 
have only a week in which to complete your arrangements 
for your departure. Do not spend your time indulging in 
tears ; your lot is a very hard one I know, dear, but it may 
not be long that you will have to be separated from your 
child after all. Now cheer up, dear, and get to work 
and help me to get your things in readiness for your 
journey.” 

“ But it seems so cruel of me to leave you here alone, 
Martha, besides burdening you with the care of the child,” 
wailed Leah. 

“Don’t fret about me, dear ; I am perfectly capable of tak- 
ing care of myself and the little boy. Our lease for the 
cottage does not expire for six months, and I have money 
sufficient for my needs for that length of time. Then we will 
be guided by circumstances.” 

“ If I am successful in this position I am about to take, I 
will send for you and the baby in two months at least. You 
will have no trouble to sublet the cottage and furniture, and 
I will have another place provided for you when you come to 
Florida,” Leah answered more hopefully. 

The week of preparation passed quickly, and with many a 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


58 

heartache to poor Leah, but Martha gave her little time to 
brood over the early parting. 

Active employment, in this good woman’s opinion, was the 
panacea for all grief, and she took care that the sorrowful 
young mother was provided with something to do every hour 
in the day. But when the tender shades of night descended 
upon the scene of the busy preparations, and Martha, tired 
out with the duties of the day, slept the sleep of one whose 
conscience was at rest, Leah would steal softly from her 
couch, and taking the warm sleeping form of the babe in 
her arms, clasp it to her bosom, and stifling the sobs that 
seemed to be bursting her very heart-strings, weep such 
bitter tears over her unhappy lot that the very angels 
from heaven, who, while watching over earth’s pilgrims, 
know that great trials must come to all such, must have 
sighed in sympathy for the young mother’s sorrow. 

The day of parting came at length, and Leah, with a white 
determined face, gave her babe the farewell embrace and 
laid him in the loving Martha’s arms, and with tearless eyes, 
the fountains of which had already been wept dry, turned 
away, and, entering the waiting carriage, was driven away to 
join her new-found friends at the Grand Central depot, and 
the journey southward was begun. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


59 




CHAPTER IX. 

Accompany me, dear reader, to the historic town of St. 
Augustine, where the sky arches delicately blue and as soft as 
that of Seville ; where the sunlight is warm and golden, 
and where the heavens are radiantly beautiful by night, and 
the full moon floats majestically above the southern Atlantic 
coast. 

On Cathedral Street, a quarter of a century ago, stood an 
elegant villa, with its luxuriant grounds and garden overlook- 
ing the Plaza, a pleasing bit of greensward situated in the 
center of the town. The house itself is worthy of descrip- 
tion, and was at the time of its erection the most elaborate 
and pretentious ever built in this queerly-built old city, 
“ which has stood the vicissitudes of three centuries of battle 
and change.” 

Strictly Moorish in design, and built of massive concrete, the 
walls had the external appearance of granite with all its du- 
rability. The building was surrounded on all sides by wide, 
cool galleries, while within the rooms were large and lofty. 
The adornment and furnishing of the house throughout was 
unique and tasteful, and richly illustrated the beauties of 
Moorish colors and designs. The pleasing effect of the in- 
terior of this beautiful home was heightened by the tropical 


6o 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


foliage and fruits which grew in wild luxuriance in the large 
grounds surrounding it. 

Amid the rich foliage of the orange, lemon, magnolias, 
myrtles and palmettoes, southern song-birds sang their me- 
lodious songs, while in the space devoted to flower-culture 
sweet flowers bloomed and dropped their fragrant petals and 
bloomed again throughout the whole glad year. 

To this ideal southern home which he had built and 
adorned about the close of the civil war, Mr. Gilbert, a pri- 
vate banker of St. Augustine, had brought his bride, a lady 
richly endowed with nature’s most choice gifts. 

Mrs. Gilbert had from her birth seemed to be one of 
fortune’s especial favorites. No storm-cloud of sorrow or mis- 
fortune had ever descended upon her serenely beautiful life. 
She was the only daughter of wealthy and aristocratic 
parents, who lavished upon her a wealth of love, and all that 
unlimited means could command. At the completion of her 
twenty-first birthday, she had become the wife of the man of 
her heart’s choice, and with him had taken up her residence 
in this ideal home, surrounded as it was by a spirit of 
romance which well suited her dreamy and poetical nature. 

Possessing marked literary ability, with a taste for brain- 
work, she had enriched the literary world with many charm- 
ing productions in both poetry and prose. 

Mrs. Gilbert was a living example of how a woman may be 
a loving and tender wife, an ideal housekeeper, and a loyal 
friend, and still find time to devote several hours each day 
to some chosen work by which the world at large might be 
edified or benefited. Hours which many a woman, situated 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


61 

amid luxurious ease as was Mrs. Gilbert, would have spent, 
either dawdling over useless fancy-work or in idle gossip, were 
by this charming woman, devoted to literary work ; giving to 
the world with generous hand rich treats from her own highly- 
cultured intellect. 

Mr. Gilbert looked on and smiled, well pleased that his dar- 
ling was happy in her own way. It was only after a season 
of unusually hard work on a production in which she was 
deeply interested, that he uttered his first protest as he 
noticed her pale cheeks and languid footsteps. 

“ You are working too hard, my darling,” he protested. “ I 
will not permit you to writ£ another line until you have 
taken a long rest, and the glow of health has returned to your 
pale face. Why, see how nervous you are ! Your hand is cold 
and trembling,” he added, taking the small white hand of his 
wife in his own. 

“ Oh, that is because just now I heard a child scream in 
the street, and I imagined the poor little thing was hurt.” 

“ When it was only laughing boisterously over something 
that pleased it,” he said laughing. “ Your imagining the 
child was hurt is only an evidence of your highly nervous 
state, which is a sure precursor of illness, if you do not turn 
resolutely away from your work and take the rest you stand 
so much in need of, and build up your shattered nerves by 
giving them a long rest. I am going to start for New York on 
Monday next ; this is Thursday, so you will have ample time in 
which to get ready to accompany me. I had thought of mak- 
ing it only a business trip, but if you will go with me I will 
arrange to make it one of pleasure, and will remain away as 
long as you are benefited by the change.” 


62 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ But I am anxious to finish this work before I leave. It 
will only take about two weeks more. Then I promise you 
I will not begin another book for a long time, or at least till 
I have your full consent to put myself in working-harness 
again,” she pleaded. 

“Two weeks more,” he echoed, “and it will not take half 
that time in your present overworked state to prostrate you 
upon a bed of illness.” So, despite her pleadings, he remained 
firm, and the unfinished work was locked out of sight, while 
the author, with a sigh of regret, turned her back on her delight- 
ful unfinished task, and prepared to accompany her husband 
on his proposed journey. 

After the business which had first been the object of Mr. 
Gilbert’s journey north had been disposed of, he gave himself 
up to pleasure, and, in company with his wife, flitted from 
one watering-place to another, or loitered about some famous 
mountain resort, until the cool winds and changing leaves 
of autumn caused the hearts of the travelers to turn long- 
ingly towards their sunny southern home. As they jour- 
neyed from the White Mountains to New York, Mr. Gilbert 
said : 

“There is one thing that we must not neglect when we 
arrive in the city, and that is, to secure the services of a pri- 
vate secretary. For, if you are determined to work, you 
must have some one to help you.” 

Thus it came about that the advertisement which had 
attracted Leah’s notice was inserted in the daily papers, a 
trivial matter in itself, but one which led to strange results in 
the life of our heroine. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


6 3 


CHAPTER X. 

The somber green of the grand old trees surrounding 
Myrtle Villa, the home of the Gilberts, was flooded with the 
rich after-glow of sunset, and tinged here and there with the 
faint blue shadows of twilight, as the travelers reached home. 

To the artistic soul of Leah, whose eyes were feasting for 
the first time upon the rich and varied scene of a southern 
landscape, the picture was one of exquisite loveliness. 
“ Could life be anything but a delight spent amid such 
environments ? ” she asked herself, as she descended the 
carriage-steps, and stood lost in admiration of the scene 
spread out before her. 

“ Is it not a lovely place, Miss Mansden ? ” Mrs. Gilbert 
asked proudly, as she noted the look of admiration on her 
secretary’s face. 

“ Lovely does not express its grandeur, Mrs. Gilbert,” the 
girl replied enthusiastically. “ We have seen hundreds of 
lovely places on our journey hither, but this place is grand 
beyond description. There is nothing lacking in form or 
coloring to make the picture perfect.” 

“ Miss Mansden, I must protest against your praises of our 
home, for my wife is already so much in love with it that it is 
almost impossible to get her to leave, even for a few weeks,” 


64 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


Mr. Gilbert said laughingly. He had dismissed the carriage, 
and came up to where the ladies were standing in time to 
hear Leah’s enthusiastic remarks. 

“ That is not to be wondered at, for your home is certainly 
a picture of the Garden of Eden,” she replied. 

‘-‘Without the serpent, let it be hoped,” he said lightly, as 
he drew his wife’s arm through his own, and led the way up 
the long avenue of trees to the house. 

Charmed as Leah had been with the exterior of Myrtle 
Villa, the measure of her admiration was filled to overflowing 
when she beheld the interior ; and in the few days following 
their arrival, which Mrs. Gilbert declared should be devoted 
to rest before commencing work, as the girl noted the sweet, 
even disposition of the mistress of the well-ordered house- 
hold, she congratulated herself over and over again for the 
fortunate chance that made her a well-paid inmate of this 
ideal home. Then her thoughts wandered back to the beau- 
tiful babe she had left in the great city. 

“ Poor little thing,” she murmured, “ what a cruel fate 
overshadows it and its unhappy mother ! ” 

What a contrast Leah’s life has been to that of the gentle 
Mrs. Gilbert, whose life-lines thus far had run through sunny 
pastures rich in vernal bloom, with never a boisterous tempest 
to disturb the still waters of her peace, with never a storm- 
cloud to obscure the sunlight of her prosperity ! 

To this favored one no cruel partings had ever come, no 
heartaches, no shattered idols, no ghosts of vanished dreams, 
or buried happiness, rose like specters of the past to mock 
her with the drear hollowness of life. 


HER S HA DO WED LIFE. 


65 


One day, soon after their arrival home, the two ladies, who 
had been strolling about the shady streets of the quaint old 
city, entered the plaza and seated themselves within the 
pavilion to enjoy the refreshing breeze that came stealing up 
from the blue waters of the bay spread out before them. 

A young couple, scarcely more than boy and girl, who had 
been strolling, lover-like, along the sea-wall, now descended its 
steps, and, making their way to the plaza, seated themselves 
not far from where Mrs. Gilbert and Leah were resting. The 
couple evidently belonged to the humble walks of life. As 
the girl, whose dreamy dark eyes and creamy complexion 
told of her Minorcan descent, seated herself, she reached her 
arms fondly for the beautiful babe the man was carrying. 
He placed his precious burden in his companion’s arms, 
and, seating himself beside her, said in a voice loud enough 
to reach Leah’s ears : 

“ It has been such a lovely day, Castillo, I’m sorry that 
you did not go on the excursion. You are staying at home 
too much ; you will lose all your pretty color, via petite chere , 
if you stay within doors so much as you have done of 
late.” 

“ I needs must stay with the little one, Maurice,” she 
replied, raising her head after kissing the dark hair of the 
child, and turning her wondrous lovely eyes upon her com- 
panion’s face. 

“ Silly girl ; you could have left him in care of the mother 
for one day at least,” he said, laughing at her serious face. 

“Nay, Maurice, not for one day would I leave my precious 
baby. How those rich ladies can go away pleasuring leav- 

5 


66 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


ing their little ones day after day to the care of others, is 
more than I can tell. Why, I should go mad if I could not 
see my boy every hour in the day,” and the young mother 
pressed her rosy infant almost convulsively to her breast, 
while the husband laughed teasingly at the girl-wife. 

A sob rose in Leah’s throat as she witnessed the scene, 
and her heart-hunger for her own banished child became so 
overpowering that she grew sick and faint. 

“ To-morrow we will go to Fort Marion if the day is fine, 
and from its summit we can see the magnificent line of 
breakers over the bar.” 

Mrs. Gilbert slowly withdrew her eyes as she spoke from 
where they had been resting on the waters of the bay, now 
turned into a deep primrose by the rays of the setting sun, 
and as they fell upon her companion’s colorless face she 
broke off her speech and exclaimed in alarm : “ Why, Miss 
Mansden, are you ill ? your face is colorless. What can I 
do for you, child ? ” 

“ Let us go home,” the girl said wearily, as she staggered 
to her feet. 

“ But you are not able to walk, are you ? Let me call a 
carriage,” the lady said kindly. 

“ No, thank you, I shall feel better presently. It is only a 
faintness which often overcomes me without any apparent 
cause.” 

“You must consult a physician about those attacks,” said 
Mrs. Gilbert thoughtfully, as the two walked slowly towards 
Myrtle Villa ; but as she looked more closely into the young 
girl’s face the lady noticed with fresh interest what she had 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 67 

often noticed before — a deep shadow of sorrow was reflected 
in her secretary’s beautiful eyes. 

“ A deep sorrow it must indeed have been to leave its im- 
press upon one so young,” she mused as she walked by her 
companion’s side. “ I must try to find out as well as I can, 
without seeming to pry into her private affairs, what it is that 
troubles her. Perhaps I may be able to lighten the burden 
for her. Poor motherless girl ! ” and as Mrs. Gilbert’s 
thoughts flew back to her own sheltered and happy girlhood, 
she resolved anew to be a friend as well as patroness to this 
friendless young girl, whom fate had cast in her way. 


68 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


CHAPTER XI. 

A month of Leah’s engagement with Mrs. Gilbert passed, 
bringing entire satisfaction to both parties. 

“ She is such a help to me in my work, and withal such a 
refined and interesting companion, that I do not see how I 
ever managed without her,” Mrs. Gilbert said to her hus- 
band, when the two were alone. 

“ I am glad that you are pleased with her, my dear, and I 
hope you will have no cause to change the good opinion you 
have formed of her,” Mr. Gilbert answered. 

“ Why, you have no presentiment that a disappointment 
is in store for me, in regard to her, have you ? ” she asked 
quickly. 

“ Oh, no,” he said. “ I have never thought much about it. 
Your secretary seems to be a very energetic, proper, and well- 
bred person. But she has a deucedly sad look at times when 
she thinks no one is observing her, which leads one to think 
that she may know more of the world than her youth would 
indicate. I wonder that you have not noticed it.” 

“ I have noticed it often, and have been curious enough 
about it to ask her more questions then is pardonable, I 
fear, in regard to her past history ; but the only motive for 
my impertinence was to try to help her shake this sorrow 
off, or to find a remedy for it,” said the kind-hearted lady. 

“ And your efforts elicited nothing to guide you in your 
generous motive ? ” he asked, laying his paper down and 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 69 

giving his whole attention to the subject which seemed to 
possess such interest for his wife. 

“ Nothing. All I have been able to learn, except what 
she told me at our first meeting, is that she has a friend in New 
York whose care she has been under ever since she left her 
home in the west. This woman, whose name is Miss Martha 
Moore, has, Miss Mansden assures me, held a mother’s place 
to her ever since her own mother died, and she loves her very 
much, although she is not a relative of hers. The thought 
occurred to me, that perhaps being separated from this friend 
might be the cause of the sorrow which the poor girl tries so 
hard to conceal,” Mrs Gilbert answered. 

“ The cause of your secretary’s sorrow, if she has one, comes 
from a deeper source than the one you surmise, depend upon 
it, little woman,” he answered. “ But if you think this is the 
cause of her trouble, why not advise her to send for her friend 
to come and reside in St Augustine?” 

“ I suggested this, and even went so far, when she told me 
that the woman was a fine seamstress, as to propose that she 
should come and live with us in that capacity,” the wife 
replied. 

“What did she say to the proposition ? ” he asked. 

“ After overwhelming me with thanks, she declined the offer, 
saying that her friend would never go from home to live with 
any one. She added, however, that the greatest desire of her 
heart was to rent a small cottage in St. Augustine, and send 
for Miss Moore just as soon as she was able to save money 
enough for this purpose.” 

“Why, then, not have her send for her friend at once ? ” he 
asked with his characteristic earnestness, quick to take in- 


7 ° 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


terest in whatever interested his wife. “ Palm Cottage on St. 
George Street is without a tenant, and has been for three 
months. Tell Miss Mansden that I will let her have it at 
reduced rent if she will take it at once.” 

“ You dear, impulsive George,” the lady said, getting up 
and slipping her arm around her husband’s neck, and kissing 
his broad white brow fondly, “ I know why you are so anxious 
to have this thing settled. You are apprehensive that if Miss 
Mansden does not have her old friend where she may see 
her every day, she will grow homesick, and I shall lose my 
companion, and secretary. But really, dear, don’t you think 
we had better wait until we are better acquainted with Miss 
Mansden, and know for a certainty that she is precisely 
what she seems to be ? ” 

“ How unlike my wife to harbor suspicions against any 
one,” he answered laughingly, as he drew her to a seat on his 
lap. “ Have no fears, dearest ; Miss Mansden is all right, 
I’ll guarantee. So perfect your plans as soon as possible to 
remove any object from your way that might be the cause of 
you losing your secretary. Make her an advance on her 
salary if necessary. Then when her friend is safely settled 
at Palm Cottage, where she may see her every day, let us 
hope that the shadow of sadness, which has troubled you 
to witness, will roll quickly away from your secretary’s 
horizon, to return no more.” 

The next day Mrs. Gilbert laid the matter before Leah, 
and advised her to lose no time in sending for her friend. 
At first Leah’s proud spirit rebelled at the proposition of a 
loan from Mrs. Gilbert. The good lady, however, with her 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


71 


usual kindly tact, succeeded at length in convincing her pro- 
tegee that her own peace of mind depended upon seeing 
Miss Moore safely established at Palm Cottage as soon as 
possible. “ For I am so sorry for you in your lonely condi- 
tion, Miss Mansden, ‘ stranger in a strange land,’ that it really 
worries me, and I feel as if I had been guilty of an unkind- 
ness in tempting you to come so far away from your home 
in company with strangers.” 

Leah’s eyes filled with tears as she listened to Mrs. Gil- 
bert’s self-accusing speech, for she saw through the lady’s 
little ruse, and appreciated the rare delicacy of feeling and 
kindness of heart that prompted it, and she resolved not to 
annoy her new-found friend by refusing her kindly offer, or 
let her pride stand in the way of her own heart’s desire. 

God only knows how the poor desolate young mother’s 
heart was yearning for a sight of her babe, or with what 
glad joy she sent the message next day that would soon 
bring Martha hither with the child. 

So in less than three weeks from the time Leah’s sum- 
mons was received by Martha, she and the babe were safely 
domiciled at Palm Cottage on St. George Street. 

Mrs. Gilbert kindly excused Leah from her duties on the 
afternoon of the day upon which her old friend, Miss Moore, 
arrived at St. Augustine ; and the passionate kisses and tears 
which Leah lavished upon the babe after they had been 
driven from the depot, and were safely hidden within the 
protecting shades of the pretty cottage, made even matter- 
of-fact Martha weep in sympathy at the touching sight of 
the young mother’s adoring love for her babe. 


7 2 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER XII. 

After the coming of Martha and the babe, a look of 
tenderness shone in Leah’s eyes which puzzled Mrs. Gilbert 
almost as much as it pleased her. 

“Well, my dear, is your protegee happy now?” Mr. 
Gilbert asked of his wife, a week or two after Martha’s 
arrival. 

“ I cannot tell whether she is or not, George,” she an- 
swered. “ Miss Mansden never speaks of her personal affairs, 
or expresses any pleasure at the near proximity of her old 
friend. Still, no religous devotee could be more constant in 
attendance in daily visits to a holy shrine than Miss Mans- 
den is in her visits to Palm Cottage. The moment she is 
dismissed for the day, she hurries away, and after an hour 
or two’s stay at the cottage returns with a strangely sweet 
expression on her face, which in some way reminds me of 
the look on the face of Raphael’s Madonna. She is unlike 
any young girl I ever knew. She is a perfect enigma to 
me. You know how hard I have persuaded her to join us 
in the drawing-room of evenings when we have guests, as 
many of our young society people have expressed a wish to 
make her acquaintance, but I have never been able to pre- 
vail upon her to do so. ‘ No, dear Mrs. Gilbert,’ she always 
answers, ‘ I cannot meet them. I do not belong to their 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


73 


world, and to make the attempt to assimilate with them 
would be no pleasure to them, and be positive torture to me. 
So pray forgive me, and do not, I beg, do me the injustice 
to think that I do not appreciate your kindness of heart, 
that would put me on equality with your friends.’ ” 

“ Still, she is young, handsome, well-bred, well educated, 
and very intellectual,” he said thoughtfully, “and I am sure 
has been accustomed to the very best society. Perhaps she 
has met with some great reverse of fortune, and is sensitive 
about the position she now fills.” 

“ It may be so, but she has never even hinted to me that 
such is the case,” Mrs. Gilbert replied. 

The conversation was interrupted by the entrance of 
Leah, who had come to fill her appointment to read to Mrs. 
Gilbert. When she discovered the presence of the banker, 
she apologized gracefully for her intrusion and turned to 
leave the room. Mrs. Gilbert, however, arrested her depart- 
ure by saying : 

“ Mr. Gilbert will do us the honor of being present at our 
reading this evening, Miss Mansden. He has not yet read 
my latest work, and we have decided to ask you to read it 
aloud to him.” 

“ I shall be pleased to do so. Shall I begin at once ? ” 
she asked gently, 

“If you please,” the lady answered. 

Leah went to a well-filled bookcase, which stood in Mrs. 
Gilbert’s study, where this conversation occurred, and taking 
from its shelves a handsomely bound volume, seated herself 
near the softly shaded light, and began to read. 


74 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


She was dressed in a gown of soft creamy cashmere, which 
fitted her beautiful form to perfection. 

The only ornament she wore was a bunch of white chrys- 
anthemums fastened at her throat, and her abundant hair, 
of a rich brown hue, bright with many a golden thread, was 
dressed high on her shapely head. 

As she became interested in her reading, the color came 
and went in her high-bred face with every new emotion stirred 
by the sentiments of the author ; until Mr. Gilbert, who had 
been regarding the reader with lazy, half-shut eyes while he 
listened, thought he had never before seen half so fair a 
picture. 

Still, on the young face he noticed a shade of sadness, or 
an undefinable something, which seemed so out of place in 
one of such tender years. 

“ Could it be,” he asked himself, “ that notwithstanding 
Miss Mansden’s youth and reticence, she was the custodian 
of a secret concerning her past life, which she would not for 
worlds have come to the knowledge of the gentle lady who 
had given her a home and employment, and who was doing 
all in her power to make her happy and contented ? ” 

The voice of the reader rose and fell with a sweet musical 
cadence, restful and pleasing to the ear, till the following 
lines were reached : 

“ Dear heart, what use in hope — what use, 

In waiting long with empty hands held high, 

In watching patiently the clouded sky ? ” 

Then the musical voice suddenly grew husky, and the 


X 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 75 

reader’s bosom rose and fell convulsively with suppressed 
sobs. 

Mrs. Gilbert started up in surprise from where she had 
been half-reclining against the sofa-cushions, and coming 
quickly to the girl’s side, took the book from her trembling 
hands, saying kindly : “ No more reading to night, Miss 

Mansden. How thoughtless of us to tax you thus ! You 
have been reading for nearly two hours ; small wonder that 
you have broken down.” 

Leah, pained and mortified at having lost her self-control, 
dashed her tears hastily aside, saying penitently : “ I did 

not break down from fatigue, believe me, dear Mrs. Gilbert, 
I did not. It was only from weakly losing my self-control. 
Will you forgive me ? ” and she reached her hand to resume 
the book the lady had taken. 

“ Yes, but I will not permit you to read longer to-night,” 
she said, smiling down into the dewy eyes of the pleading 
young face. 

“ Then I shall be justly punished for not having held my 
emotions in check,” Leah answered. “ For I am so deeply 
interested in the story, that, had I my own way, I should 
never cease reading till I had finished it.” 

“ You would pay for your folly with a headache and red 
eyes to-morrow, as many another young person who is 
addicted to excessive novel reading has done,” laughed Mrs. 
Gilbert, as she crossed the room and placed the book in its 
place in the bookcase. 

“ Perhaps the novel-writers will have to bear a share of 
the blame in this, my dear,” said Mr. Gilbert, teasingly. 


7 6 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


“They should not make their stories so entrancing, or arouse 
the reader’s curiosity to such a pitch regarding the ultimate 
fate of the characters.” 

She laughed back at him as she resumed her seat, and 
said : “ It would be well for all novel-writers were this the 
only sin in connection with their stories for which they would 
have to answer. For when one thinks with what avidity 
novels are read, especially by young people, one can readily 
realize what an educator a novel-writer may become for 
either good or evil.” 

“ There is no doubt that many a boy and girl have been 
led to their ruin by the perusal of trashy and immoral litera- 
ture,” the banker said thoughtfully. And his wife answered : 

“ Sometimes, when I think of the vast amount of harm 
that is wrought by those books, I hope the day is not far dis- 
tant when it will be against the laws of our land to write or 
publish a book of fiction of any character.” 

“ Oh, do not make such a clean sweep as that,” he an- 
swered, laughing at her serious face ; “ only hope that our law- 
makers may legislate against the writing and publishing of 
books of a highly sensational and immoral character, the 
same as they have against obscene literature, and there 
would soon be an uprooting of this evil, which, while it puts 
money in the pockets of a few, brings ruin and desolation 
into the homes of many, who, but for its presence, might have 
been happy and prosperous. What is your opinion on the 
subject, Miss Mansden ? ” 

The girl had taken up the white Angora kitten from the 
hearth-rug as she listened to the conversation between the 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


77 


husband and wife, and sat passing her hand caressingly over 
its silky fur. 

“ I have never read many novels, ” she said modestly, and. 
the soft blue eyes which met those of her interlocutor were 
still dewy from the few tears she had unwittingly shed while 
reading Mrs. Gilbert’s book, “ therefore I do not consider 
myself competent to judge. One thing I will assert, however. 
I never read a good novel — I mean a work of romance which 
has morality, honesty, and virtue for its standard — that I do 
not feel myself strengthened morally and religiously. Mrs. 
Gilbert’s books are like beautiful sermons to me, exhorting 
me to a grand, true life ; and the popularity which her books 
have achieved are proof positive that works of fiction need 
neither be sensational nor immoral to be widely read by both 
old and young.” 

Mrs. Gilbert smiled her thanks into the earnest young face, 
while the banker said proudly : “ It would be a moral impos- 
sibility for my wife to write anything sensational or immoral. 
As well might one expect to see a muddy stream emanating 
from a pure fountain.” 

“ There, there ! I must protest against any more compli- 
ments,” cried Mrs. Gilbert, laughing, as she rose as a signal 
for the good-nights to be said ; “besides,” she added archly, 
“ don’t you both know that it is very bad form to discuss 
a book in the presence of its author ? ” 

“ We both know that modesty is the true sign of genius,” 
laughed Mr. Gilbert, as he took himself off to his own den to 
smoke his evening’s cigar before retiring for the night. 


7S 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

“ Let us drive by Palm Cottage and take Miss Mansden 
home,” Mrs. Gilbert said to her husband the day following 
the events related in the preceding chapter, as they were 
returning from a long delightful drive. 

He turned the pretty white ponies into St. George Street, 
in answer to his wife’s request, and they drove slowly along 
enjoying the bracing air which came stealing up from the 
blue waters of the bay. The winter sun had just sunk be- 
hind a bank of gorgeously tinted clouds, and the sky above 
them was of a tender primrose hue, which lighted up the 
grand old trees lining either side of the street, and made a 
sweet-voiced mocking-bird perched upon a swinging branch 
burst forth in shrill whistles or tender notes of delight. 

Two women were standing at the cottage gate as the car- 
riage drew near. The occupants recognized one as Leah, 
attired in full walking costume, standing with her back to 
the street. 

She held in her arms a baby, and before the carriage 
stopped she kissed the child again and again, and then placing 
it in the arms of her companion, turned to leave the yard. 
As her hand was on the gate-latch, her eyes fell upon the 
carriage halted before her, and when she recognized its 



“ She held in her arms a baby.” — Page 78, 



HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


79 


occupants her face became suddenly suffused with a burning 
blush, which quickly receded, leaving it as white as the petals 
of an Ascension lily. 

“ Oh, what a beautiful child,” cried Mrs. Gilbert, whose 
eyes had wandered past Leah to the laughing infant crowing 
in the arms of the elder woman. “ Won’t you bring it to me 
a moment, Miss Mansden ? Above all things on earth I love 
a pretty baby.” 

“ Not better than you love your husband, I hope,” whis- 
pered Mr. Gilbert, trying in his comical way to look injured. 

“ We will discuss that important question later,” his wife 
returned saucily, as Leah came to the side of the carriage 
with the child in her arms. 

The girl was very pale, and the arms which raised the 
infant toward the lady trembled visibly. 

“ Oh, you pretty darling!” Mrs. Gilbert cried, rapturously 
addressing the child as she clasped it to her bosom. 

The baby laughed, crowed, and kicked its tiny feet in 
the sweetest baby fashion as it caught the lady’s bonnet- 
strings, and carried them to its mouth. 

“ Whose child is it, Miss Mansden ? ” she asked eagerly, as 
she held the little thing off and looked with admiration into 
its sparkling violet eyes. “ Why, it resembles yourself ! Is it 
a relative of yours ? ” 

Again the scarlet flood overspread Leah’s fair face while 
with dry lips and a voice trembling despite her efforts at 
self-control, she answered : “ It is an orphan boy whom Miss 
Moore brought from New York. It was placed in her 
care till called for by its friends.” 


8o 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


Mr. Gilbert, who had turned his face toward the child, 
now turned quickly, struck by the agitation in the speaker’s 
voice, and looked steadily into her perturbed face. 

Martha noting the little scene from where she stood just 
inside the gate, now came boldly forward for the purpose of 
diverting the attention of the lady and gentleman. 

Leah’s embarrassment was becoming apparent to the whole 
party except the innocent cause of it, who continued to 
gurgle and crow as though it were the most pleasing thing 
imaginable for a babe to be disowned by its own mother. 

“ This is Miss Moore, I suppose,” said Mrs. Gilbert kindly, 
reaching her hand to shake hands with the pleasant-faced 
woman. 

Martha returned the greeting politely, and Mr. Gilbert 
raised his hat in answer to his wife’s introduction. 

As the baby caught sight of the familiar face of its beloved 
nurse, it reached its tiny arms toward her imploringly, and 
began to fret uneasily to be transferred to her faithful arms. 

“ Your beautiful charge has already quite won my heart, 
Miss Moore,” Mrs. Gilbert remarked, as she again kissed the 
little pleader before transferring him to Martha. “You will 
bring him to Myrtle Villa to see us, will you not ? ” the lady 
continued kindly. “We have no child, and Mr. Gilbert and 
myself are very fond of children. But we must not keep you 
standing here with the little one ; the evening air grows chilly. 
Miss Mansden,” raising her voice so as to be heard by 
Leah who had walked to the horses’ heads and stood rubbing 
their pink noses with her white hand, “ will you ride home 
with us ? We called expressly for you.” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


81 


Mr. Gilbert sprang out to assist his wife’s companion to 
her place by the side of Mrs. Gilbert. 

Leah bade Martha good-night without once turning her 
head, or appearing to notice the child, but Mr. Gilbert noticed 
as he assisted her into the carriage that her hands were cold 
and trembling. 

He was glad, however, that his wife seemingly had not 
noticed Miss Mansden’s agitation when questioned concern- 
ing the child. 

It might have made her distrustful of the girl, who, he 
felt assured in his own heart, however appearances might 
indicate to the contrary, was worthy of trust, although she 
might be the victim of some unfortunate circumstance which 
she was trying to conceal from the eyes of the uncharitable 
world. 

The appealing way in which the girl had looked up at him 
while he was scanning her agitated face had moved his 
manly heart to the deepest pity for her, and he resolved to 
let fall no word that would cause his wife to suspect that he 
harbored the least suspicion against her companion. 

“ You are very pale, Miss Mansden. Do you feel indis- 
posed ? ” Mrs. Gilbert asked, as they drove home through 
the fast deepening twilight. 

“ I have a headache,” Leah replied, looking at the lady 
with eyes heavy with unshed tears ; thus making the poor 
excuse for her pale face that many a heartsore woman has 
made before, to hide some secret sorrow that will manifest 
itself in the countenance of the sufferer, be she ever so 

brave. 

6 


82 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ I am very sorry ; perhaps you have worked too hard 
to-day ? ” 

“ I do not think so,” the girl answered quickly ; “ I often 
have those headaches.” 

“ Well, if your head is not better after tea, we will dis- 
pense with our reading this evening, and let you go early to 
bed.” 

“You are very kind,” she said in an unsteady voice, as 
the carriage stopped at the villa gates. 

The short winter’s twilight had deepened into the more 
dusky shades of night, and when they entered the brilliantly 
lighted house Leah made her way at once to her own room, 
and when safely locked therein, tossed her hat and walking 
jacket from her, and throwing herself face downward upon 
the bed, gave vent to the tears which she had held in abey- 
ance with a mighty will power, until her head ached miser- 
ably. 

“ Oh, my God, my God ! to think that I dare not acknowl- 
edge my own child,” was the burden of the lament that burst 
ever and again from the pale lips of the young sufferer. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


83 


CHAPTER XIV. 

For some reason best known to herself, Miss Moore did 
not accept Mrs. Gilbert’s invitation to bring her little charge 
to visit at Myrtle Villa. 

Leah was constant in her visits to Palm Cottage, and, how- 
ever busy she may have been in the discharge of her duties, 
or be the day ever so stormy, at least two hours of every 
twenty-four were spent by her with Martha and the child. 

Mrs. Gilbert sent many a gift to the “ dear little fellow,” as 
she called him, and she always called to see him when in 
the vicinity of the cottage. 

The resemblance between Leah and the baby increased 
with the child’s growth. If Mrs. Gilbert noticed this grow- 
ing resemblance she did not remark upon it, or ask any 
questions concerning the child’s parentage. She was too 
thoroughly a lady of gentle breeding to pry into a subject 
which was no affair of her own, and one which was evidently 
avoided by both her secretary and the child’s nurse. 

The bright winter days slipped past with marvelous 
rapidity, and gave place to the brighter sunshine of spring, 
and now May, with its glorious wealth of green, and its 
myriad buds and flowers, and sweetly perfumed air, was 
holding high carnival in this fair and favored land. 

Eight months of Leah’s engagement with the lady whahad 


84 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


proven herself to be a true and steadfast friend to the friend- 
less girl had flown, and the time was rapidly approaching 
when the recipient of all this kindness would have an oppor- 
tunity to show her gratitude to her kind friend. 

In the seven happy years of Mrs. Gilbert’s married life 
only one disappointment had touched her heart with its 
heavy finger, and that was, that no sweet frail human blossom 
had ever come to nestle in her tender bosom, and learn to 
look upon her with eyes of trusting love, and call her by the 
holy name of mother. But now the lady’s hopes and prayers 
were about to be fulfilled, and ere long to her heart would 
come the love that only comes to bless woman after she has 
gone down into the very “valley of the shadow of death” for 
the sake of her offspring. 

The literary work had been laid aside weeks before, and 
Leah devoted her whole time to the care of the gentle, uncom- 
plaining invalid. 

She read to her, drove with her, wrote her letters for her, 
and conversed with her on all subjects, dear to the hearts of 
well-bred, intellectual women, as the two sat taking silken 
stitches on dainty garments that were always quickly hidden 
from sight when the banker’s bounding footsteps were heard 
approaching his wife’s room. 

The bond of sympathy between the two women grew and 
strengthened with each day, until it became beautiful in its 
sacredness, and wonderful in its intensity, especially when 
one remembered, as Mr. Gilbert did, that his wife was Miss 
Mansden’s senior by ten years. Indeed, Miss Mansden was 
little more than a child in years. Still Mrs. Gilbert, with 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


85 


seeming unconsciousness of this fact, was beginning to look 
up to her for sympathy and advice, as an invalid of her class 
might depend upon a dear and more experienced elder sister, 
in whose love and wisdom she had the most perfect con- 
fidence. 

Leah had given up her cherished visits to Palm Cottage, 
which she was wont to make on each afternoon, and now those 
visits were postponed till after Mrs. Gilbert had retired 
for the night. When, having made arrangements with one 
of the maid-servants of Myrtle Villa to accompany her, she 
would fly on the wings of love through the darkness to Palm 
Cottage, to spend one blessed hour in fondling and caressing 
her child ; yea, and often and often its sweet sleeping face 
was bedewed by the young mother’s bitter tears of repentance, 
for not having laid her whole past without reserve before 
Mrs. Gilbert upon the occasion of their first meeting. 

“ But the lady would have surmised at once that I was a . 
deserted wife, and I, with no evidence to convince her of 
my blamelessness, should never have known this precious 
friend,” she would muse, and then, giving vent to her feel- 
ings of anguish, would burst forth : “ Oh ! Herbert, Herbert, 
is it possible that you have basely deserted me ? No, no, I 
will not believe it. I know you are dead, my darling, I know 
you are dead. God forgive me for ever harboring one single 
thought that aught but death could have parted us ! But 
what is to become of you, poor child, and your unhappy 
mother, and how is this all to end?” and thus while poor 
Leah was trying with weak human eyes to peer beyond the 
dark curtain which hides the mysterious future from mortal 


86 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


ken, the shuttle in the loom of fate was flying quickly to and 
fro, weaving and shaping her destiny according to the Great 
Weaver’s design. 

The rich-hued flowers and fruits of early June were bloom- 
ing and ripening in all their southern luxuriance, under floods 
of sparkling sunshine. But all the fragrance they cast upon 
the gentle breeze, and all the wealth of sunlight of this 
bright day, were excluded by tightly closed shutters and 
tightly drawn blinds from one of the lofty apartments at 
Myrtle Villa. Servants with solemn looks tiptoed through 
the halls and up and down the stairs, intent upon their vari- 
ous duties, and only speaking in low whispers as they met 
each other on their rounds. 

Mr. Gilbert, with disheveled hair and toilet half made, 
paced the floor of his library all the long day. Suspense and 
anxiety were written all over his handsome face, blanching it 
to a pallor never seen there before. 

Leah, white and miserable, wandered aimlessly from room 
to room, or went out for a breath of fresh air on the exten- 
sive grounds, but her anxiety soon drove her back into the 
house to wait and listen and pray for good news from Mrs. 
Gilbert’s sick-room. 

Just as the sun was sinking, and his last rays were send- 
ing long arrows of light through the richly stained western 
windows, and fell in quivering prismatic rays upon the soft 
velvet carpets, the door of the sick chamber opened, and 
closed softly but quickly, and “ Aunt Caroline,” her black 
face radiant with joy, dashed along the hall as fast as her 
softly shod feet could carry her. She almost ran over Leah, 


HER SHAD OWED LIFE. 


87 


who was half-way up the stairs, and who laid hold of the old 
woman to stop her flight until she could answer her ques- 
tion. 

“ Oh, Aunt Caroline, how is she ? tell me quickly, how is 
your poor mistress ?” 

“ Oh, Miss Leah, Lawd A’mighty, chile, don’t stop me till 
I’s done tole Massa Gauge. He tole me to come quick to 
de libary de minit I had good news.” 

“ You have good news, then ? Oh, Aunt Caroline, you 
have good news ! ” she cried in delight, as she released her 
hold on the old woman’s arm. 

“ Good noos ? You’s right, honey. I guess Mars Gauge 
’ll think it’s good noos when I tells him dat he’s de pa ob de 
lubliest little gal dis ole nigga eber sot her two eyes on. An’ 
Mis Louise, she’s smilin’ all ober her sweet face, an’ wants 
Mars Gauge to come quick,” and the old nurse disappeared 
down the hall almost before the last words were out of her 
mouth. 

Leah sat down on the stairs and covered her face with her 
hands, while she thanked God that her friend’s peril had 
been safely passed. 

Mr. Gilbert ran past her, saying joyously: “Wish me joy, 
Miss Mansden. My wife has presented me with a little 
daughter.” 

“ I do, with all my heart,” she answered feelingly. 

The next instant the banker entered his wife’s room, fol- 
lowed by the nurse ; and Leah, ascending the stairs slowly, 
sought her own room. She lighted a lamp and sat down and 
tried to compose herself to read. It was not long, however, 


88 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


until Aunt Caroline appeared at the door with a message that 
Miss Leah was to come at once to Mrs. Gilbert’s room. The 
girl obeyed immediately, only stopping long enough to ask 
the nurse as to her mistress’ welfare. The nurse assured 
her that all was well, and soon Leah was kneeling beside 
Mrs. Gilbert, who welcomed her with a smile of happiness. 

‘‘You must not talk to her,” the old physician said 
brusquely to Leah. “ I have just turned Mr. Gilbert out be- 
cause he would not obey me, and if you talk you will have to 
share the same fate, because I will not have the patient dis- 
turbed.” 

Leah only smiled into the sick woman’s face, and whis- 
pered, “ God bless you.” 

“ He has blessed me far more than I deserve,” the patient 
whispered back, so as not to be heard by the doctor. 

Leah held up her finger warningly, and, after kissing the 
hand of the newly-made mother, crept softly from the room. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


89 


CHAPTER XV. 

The little child which had come to complete the conjugal 
happiness of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert grew and throve as 
only a healthy, well-cared-for child can. She had her mother’s 
large, soft-brown eyes and golden brown hair, with her 
father’s fair complexion and Grecian cast of features. 

A more winsome babe never delighted the fond hearts of 
its idolizing parents and administering friends, and home- 
life at Myrtle Villa .flowed on its peaceful, idealistic way. 

The little one had reached her third month, and in a few 
days was to be presented for baptism. The fond mother, 
who would intrust the work to no other hands, sat in the 
morning room of the villa with Leah, where both, with busy 
fingers, were fashioning a wonderfully rich robe in which the 
little girl through her sponsor in baptism was to renounce 
“ the pomp and vanity of the world.” 

“ Has the little boy at Palm Cottage been baptized, do you 
know, Leah ? ” asked Mrs. Gilbert, as she bent over her own 
little one’s dainty crib and measured the dimpled wrist of 
the idol of the household, with a bit of creamy old lace. 

Leah bent her head lower over the dainty fabric which 
she was stitching with such wondrous care, and a flush crept 


9 ° 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


up to her white temples as she answered : “ No, I think not ; 
indeed, I am quite sure he has not been baptized.' ’ 

“ Why not ask Miss Moore to have him presented at the 
time with baby ? ” the young mother asked, her heart going 
out in sympathy for the little unknown waif who she thought 
had never known a mother's love. 

So it came about that the next Sunday the two children, 
to whom fate had dealt out such widely different portions, 
but whose future destinies she would, with her own strange 
caprice, blend together as suited her best, were carried side 
by side through the mellow sunlight of a September morning 
into the soft sacred shade of St. John’s Episcopal Chapel, 
which for sixty years or more had held out its loving arms 
to receive the little ones of Christ’s flock. 

Leah stood godmother for both children ; and when the 
bishop took the laughing, crowing boy into his fatherly arms, 
and turned to the young godmother for the child’s name, 
Mrs. Gilbert marveled greatly at the strange pallor which over- 
spread her companion’s face and blanched her lips as she 
answered in an unsteady voice, “ Herbert,” and the baptismal 
shower fell in sparkling drops upon the white brow of the 
child of poverty with all the potency for good it held for 
the idolized daughter of the millionaire — “ Ruth,” they 
named the little girl, and well the sweet old name suited the 
lovely babe. 

The family at Myrtle Villa had remained at home all sum- 
mer and now Mr. Gilbert wished his wife and child with 
Miss Mansden to accompany him north for a few weeks’ 
change before winter set in. To Leah’s secret delight, who 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


9 * 

dreaded even a few weeks’ separation from her child, Mrs. 
Gilbert declined to go. 

“ I am so happy at home, George,” she said, “ and we 
are all in such excellent health, that there is no necessity 
of our going abroad. The season is so far advanced that 
we shall do very well at home until next spring.” 

Her husband smiled upon her indulgently as he said : 
“ What a little home body you are, my dear. I suppose I 
must permit you to have your own way. You must not 
stay indoors too much though. I shall insist, now that the 
mornings and evenings are growing cooler, that you ride 
or drive out twice a day,” and he kissed her and left the 
house. 

The morning was delightfully fine. The bay lay still, and 
unruffled as a polished mirror in the sparkling sunlight, as 
the carriage from Myrtle Villa, in which were seated Mrs. Gil- 
bert, Leah, and little Ruth in her black nurse’s arms, left the 
villa gates for their usual morning drive. 

Mrs. Gilbert, whose heart was always overflowing with cheer- 
fulness, was in even more exuberant spirits than usual. She 
laughed, chatted, and hummed a sweet love-song as the car- 
riage bowled along the shell-road which lay gray and smooth 
through the grand forest. Leah struggled hard to keep back 
the spirit of depression which she felt coming over her own 
soul. She had, ever since becoming an inmate of Myrtle Villa, 
with a heroism marvelous in itself, kept the sorrow which 
overshadowed her life, thrust into the hidden recesses of her 
heart, and smiled while engaged in lively conversation, though 
her heart was aching with a burden of woe that would oft- 


9 2 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


times find expression through her eyes despite her heroic 
demination to keep it hidden from all human eyes. 

This expression was particularly noticeable this morning, 
although the poor girl tried her best to enter into something 
of the exuberance of spirits which was manifested by Mrs. 
Gilbert. 

At length the lady consulted her watch and exclaimed : 
“ Why, it is almost ten o’clock ; we have driven far enough. 
Speak to the coachman, Leah, please, and tell him to turn the 
horses homeward.” Then, noticing her companion’s pale 
cheeks, added : “ I fear you are already tired with the long 
drive.” 

“Oh, not in the least, thank you,” Leah replied quickly. 
“ I am sure, however, that I have been a dull companion this 
morning.” 

“ No, indeed, you have not, or at least if you have been 
dull, I have been too selfish to notice it. I believe, now that 
I think of it, I have done most of the talking and laughing 
this morning. I feel so very happy and joyous. Dicey, put 
the baby in my arms, I want to hold her for a little while.” 

“ She’s gittin’ pow’ful heavy, Mis’ Louise, an’ you know, 
you promised Massa Gawge you woulden, hold her so much 
as you did yistady,” remonstrated the old nurse. 

Mrs. Gilbert laughed. “ Give me my baby, Dicey. I was 
not tired with holding her yesterday; your ‘ Massa George ’ 
only imagined I was because you told him that I held the 
baby nearly all the way home from our drive. You mustn’t 
tell on me this morning.” And the happy young mother 
clasped her child in her arms and covered its sweet mouth with 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


93 


kisses, and refused to relinquish her precious burden to the 
nurse until they reached the pillars of the ancient gateway, 
which still stand as natural monuments of a long-ago past, 
when their strong walls defended for the king of Spain his 
garrisoned town in Florida. 

Then with a little sigh she permitted Dicey to take the 
now sleeping child into her own motherly arms. The sigh 
did not fall unnoticed upon the nurse’s, ears and she said 
with all the privilege of an old black “ mammy ” of a south- 
ern household : “ Dar, what I done tole you, Mis’ Louise ? 
I knowed you gwine ter make yo’ po’ arms ache toten dis 
heaby little lam’, but you would do it, an’ den ’specs me not 
to tell Massa Gawge on you.” 

The young mother had grown strangely quiet in the last 
half-hour, and Leah noticed with concern that she had also 
grown slightly pale. 

“ I fear you have wearied yourself holding the child,” she 
said ; “ you really should not have done so.” 

“ Oh, no, that did not tire me,” Mrs. Gilbert answered as 
she passed her hand over her forehead, “ but I have a slight 
headache which has come upon me suddenly. Perhaps we 
drove too far,” she said, trying to make light of her sudden 
depression. 

Before they reached the gates of Myrtle Villa, however, an 
aching languor beset her in every limb, and her face grew 
white and her lips blue. 

Leah, in great alarm, ordered the coachman to drive faster, 
and then began to rub the lady’s cold hands between her 
own, and express her sympathy in every possible way. 


94 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ What could have been the cause of this sudden attack ? ” 
she cried, in great distress of mind. “You were feeling so 
very well before its sudden appearance.” 

“ My head aches so dreadfully,” moaned the sufferer, and 
Leah left off chafing the small cold hands, and drew the 
lady’s head to her bosom, and passed her hand lovingly across 
the white brow, upon which drops of cold perspiration were 
standing. 

“ You’s got a chill, honey, shoah’s you’s bo’n,” said Aunt 
Dicey sympathetically, and then added reprovingly : 
“You had betta done what Mars Gawge tole you to, an’ gone 
to whar de Yankees lib for a little res’ an’ change after all 
you bin tru dis long hot sum’er, ’sides being sick you’se’f. 
Now you’s gwine ter hab chills, an’ I spec de po’ baby’ll get 
’em too, all ’count you not mind’n what Massa Gawge done tole 
you.” 

They had reached the villa gates, and Aunt Dicey stopped 
short in scolding her “ chile ” to put her brightly turbaned 
head out of the carriage door and order the coachman to 
come quick, “ An’ tote Miss Louise in de house, she’s got a 
chill.” 

The man sprung down from his perch with alacrity, and 
after securing his team to the hitching post, took his young 
mistress in his strong arms, and carried her tenderly into the 
house and upstairs to her own room, closely followed by the 
now thoroughly frightened Leah, and Aunt Dicey with the 
sleeping babe. 

“Now, Josh away, run wid all yo’ might an’ bring Massa 
Gawge an’ Doctor Cadova. Heed it, sah ! ” she commanded, 
as the man opened the door to leave the room. 



" Ihe man • • took his young mistress in his strong arms.”— Page 94. 



HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


95 


Leah had tenderly divested the lady of her gloves and 
bonnet, and was deftly removing the clothing from the 
shuddering form, when the sufferer gave a smothered scream 
and pressed her hands to her temples. 

“ What is it, darling ? ” the girl cried in anguish, and then : 
“ Oh, dear ! oh, dear ! oh, Dicey, she is dying ! oh, my God, 
she is dying ! ” for the beautiful face was convulsed with 
agony, and the lovely, kindly eyes, the light of which had 
ever shed happiness upon all around them, were turned wildly 
upward, while the small hands were clenched in spasmodic 
tension. 

The sound below of a hurried arrival, flying steps upon the 
stairs, and the next moment the door was flung wide open, 
and the banker, his face blanched to marble whiteness, had 
the rigid form of his beloved wife in his arms. In a moment 
more the physician had arrived, and proceeded at once with 
professional coolness to make a hurried examination of the 
patient, but, before his task was finished, his own face had 
turned almost as pale as the now frantic husband’s. 

“ Send for Dr. Gray immediately,” was the physician’s 
hurried orders, as he proceeded to do what he could for the 
patient’s relief, and Leah hurried from the room to fulfill his 
command. 

Doctor Gray arrived quickly, in answer to the hurried 
summons of his colleague. There was a hurried examination 
into the case, a brief consultation between the two physicians, 
and the terrible verdict contained in one word, and one which 
has struck terror to the hearts of many a household in the 
fair southland went forth — “ Congestion ! ” 


9 6 


HER SHADOWED LIFE, 


As this was before telegraphic communication had been 
established between St. Augustine and the outside world, 
a messenger on a fleet-footed horse was dispatched to Jack- 
sonville for more physicians, b”.t long before time sufficient 
for the delivery of the summons had elapsed, the beautiful 
spirit of Mrs. Gilbert escaped from its prison-house of clay, 
and stony, inexpressible grief, which was paralyzing in its 
intensity to Mr. Gilbert and Leah, but found expression in 
loud lamentations from the colored servants of the house- 
hold, held full sway at Myrtle Villa. Only one of the in- 
mates of this heretofore happy, peaceful home was unmoved 
by the storm-cloud of grief which had so suddenly fallen 
upon the fair scene, leaving devastation and broken hearts in 
its wake, and that the beautiful infant and only heir of the 
wealthy family, little Ruth, who lay upon her back in her 
dainty crib, kicking her tiny feet, gurgling to herself, and 
crowing with delight, as her little fingers sought to grasp and 
imprison the sunbeams which, finding a half-closed slat in 
the window-blind, had crept in as if to amuse the baby-girl, 
who was this day bereft of a priceless jewel, that all the 
wealth of the world could not restore — the priceless jewel of 
a mother’s love. 




“The beautiful spirit of Mrs. Gilbert escaped from its prison house of clay 

Page 90. 



HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


97 


CHAPTER XVI. 

“ Oh, God, how mysterious art Thy ways ! ” 

The words burst forth passionately from Leah Mansden’s 
lips as she stood alone with clasped hands and bowed head 
beside the satin-lined casket, which held all that was mortal 
of the most beautiful character she had ever known. 

“So good, so young, beautiful, honored, and beloved ; 
with everything in life that heart could wish ; rich in 
talents, which she used wisely and conscientiously for the 
good and pleasure of others. Still with so much to live 
for, with such a vast field for good awaiting the labor of 
her willing and competent hands, she was, with scarce a 
moment’s warning, snatched away by the rude hand of death. 
While I, whose happiness and usefulness, it seems to me, 
were wrecked on the very threshold of womanhood, — I, 
whom no one would miss for scarcely a day, am left ! 
Was this dear friend, this wise counselor, just given to 
me for a season, so as to rend my heart again with a fresh 
sense of agony and desolation ; or else, my God ! why, oh, 
why was I not taken in her stead, and she left to bless the 
world with her goodness ? ” 

“ What right have we to question the work of the Lord 
God of Hosts ? ” 

It was the voice of the gray-haired rector, who had come 
unobserved into the room, and paused beside the girl in time 

7 


9 8 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


to hear her last bitter questions. She looked at him a mo- 
ment with startled eyes, and then covering her face with her 
hands, burst into bitter weeping. 

“You do not know how good she was, or how deeply I 
loved her, or you would not have the heart to chide me in 
this, my great hour of sorrow,” she sobbed. 

He laid his hand tenderly upon her trembling shoulder as 
he answered gently : 

“ Yes, my child, I know how good she was, and I know 
how much we all loved her ; but by that very love we should 
be made strong enough to thank God that our treasure was 
transplanted to the fair gardens of Paradise before the finger 
of care or sorrow touched her pure heart. For bitter trials 
come to all who live a goodly length of days, and what reason 
have we to suppose that, had she lived, she of all others 
would have been exempt from the common lot of all man- 
kind ? ” 

“ You cannot understand my desolation,” she said half 
bitterly. 

“ That may be true, my child,” he answered gently, “but at- 
tune your ear and listen to a voice which you will hear above 
the tempest of grief that now assails you. Clear and distinct 
above the roar and rush of the angry waters which now en- 
gulf your soul in gloom, will come the voice of thy God say- 
ing : ‘ I love thee, I love thee ; pass under the rod.’ ” He 
removed his hand from her shoulder as he finished speaking, 
replaced the glass covering over the face of the dead, and 
looked with pitying eyes on the bowed form of the young girl, 
as she, smothering down her sobs, crept softly from the pres- 
ence of death. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


99 


CHAPTER XVII. 

It was night, and the lights burned dimly at Myrtle Villa. 

The hush and gloom of a great unutterable sorrow brooded 
over the beautiful home. Servants, mechanically performing 
their various duties, flitted silently about with eyelids swollen 
from much weeping, for to-day they had seen all that was 
mortal of their beloved mistress consigned to the peaceful 
embrace of mother earth. 

Leah, her heart almost bursting with its load of grief and 
desolation, sat in the nursery with the motherless infant 
clasped in her arms. 

She had been attracted to the nursery by the crying of the 
child. It had always been a good-natured, healthy baby, and 
she hastened to its side with a mighty fear at her heart that 
the little thing was ill. 

“ I don’ know what mus’ ail de po’ little t’ing,” Dicey 
paused in her walking up and down the room, in which, way 
she had in vain tried to quiet the child, to say in answer to 
Leah’s question. “ She ain’t sick, an’ it seems like the po' 
little lam’ mus’ know dat her ma’s dun gone nebber to come 
back no mo’. ” And Dicey’s tears burst forth afresh. 

“ Let me take her,” Leah said gently, and very soon the 


IOO 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


fretful child, yielding to the soothing influence of the girl’s 
magnetic touch, slumbered sweetly upon her bosom. Dicey 
sat down on the floor and leaned her head, the bright 
turban which she was wont to wear now replaced by a 
black one, against a chair, and soon her regular breathing 
told that she too had forgotten her sorrow in the sweet em- 
brace of the angel of sleep. 

A low knock at the door aroused Leah from her painful 
train of thoughts, and in answer to her bidding the door 
opened and the tall form of the banker appeared in the door- 
way. There was a look of set, stony grief upon his pale, 
high-bred features, and his eyes shone with an unnatural 
luster. 

“ May I speak to you alone a moment, Miss Mansden ? ” 
he said briefly. 

“ Certainly,” she answered. 

“ Put the child down then, and come with me. I shall not 
detain you long.” 

Wondering, she placed the babe tenderly in its crib, and 
not pausing to arouse the nurse from her slumbers, followed 
Mr. Gilbert, who led the way to the library. When they had 
entered he placed a chair for her, and standing before her, 
said : 

“ Miss Mansden, I have brought you here to crave a great 
favor of you.” 

She looked into his white face with its set lips, and deep 
grief-lines about the firm mouth, inquiringly, and he con- 
tinued : 

“Will you remain here, for a time, at least, and take 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


IOI 


charge of the child, the house, and the servants during my 
absence ? ” 

Without waiting for her to reply, he hurried on : 

“ If you choose, you may ask Miss Moore to come with 
the child from Palm Cottage, and keep you company. Your 
salary shall be double that which you have received since 
becoming an inmate of my house. Will you remain ? ” 

The abruptness of the proposition startled, and deprived 
her of words for a ready reply. 

“ Am I asking too much of you, Miss Mansden ? ” he 
asked gently, at length, as she did not speak. 

“Oh, no,” she cried with visible emotion. “ I am grate- 
ful for the confidence you repose in me. But dare I accept 
such a responsibility ? I am young and inexperienced. 
Would it not be best for you to employ an older and more 
experienced person ? ” 

“ I know of no one to whom I could intrust this charge 
with the perfect confidence I repose in yourself. Will you 
accept it ? ” he asked earnestly. 

“ Shall you be long absent ? ” she ventured to ask, before 
answering his direct question. 

“ I am unable to state the length of my absence,” he 
replied. “ I have given no thought to it. I only know that 
go I must, and go at once. I am more than half mad now, 
and to remain here twenty-four hours longer would be to risk 
becoming a raving maniac. You, Miss Mansden, who, of all 
the world, can nearest approach an appreciation of my loss, 
will not marvel at my despair.” 

She answered him only by her tears, and he continued : 


102 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


" If ever I regain fortitude sufficient to face the scenes of 
my lost happiness, I shall return. If not, I will die a wan- 
derer in a foreign land. I shall begin my journeying at 
twelve o’clock to-night, and already the clock has sounded 
the eleventh hour. Speak quickly — will you accede to my 
request ? ” 

The girl noted now what she had failed to notice before — 
that his suit of broadcloth had been replaced by a dark gray 
traveling suit, and his overcoat and gloves lay on a chair 
near by that in which she sat. 

“ I will accept the trust,” she said, as a great sob swelled 
in her throat and checked further utterance. 

“ Thank you,” he answered briefly, and drawing a pocket- 
book from the inside pocket of his coat, took out a card and 
presented it to his companion, saying : “ When you want 
money, all that is necessary for you to do will be to present 
this card to the cashier of Gilbert’s private banking-house, 
and your order will be honored for any amount ; and if you 
should, at any time, wish my address, it may always be 
obtained at the same place. Now I am ready to depart.” 

He turned away, and, hastily possessing himself of his 
overcoat and gloves, took up his hat, with its heavy band of 
crape, from the library table. With his left arm and hand 
thus burdened, he held out his right to bid her farewell. 
She had risen to her feet, and, as she mechanically placed 
her hand in his, said in tones of entreaty : 

“ Do not go without taking leave of your little girl.” 

He instantly dropped her hand, and said, in a husky voice, 
as he turned abruptly away : 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


103 

“You know not what you ask; I could not bear it. God 
knows that I could not.” 

With tears streaming down her face, Leah watched him 
leave the room, and, standing in the library door, saw him 
traverse the length of the wide hall, and disappear through 
the outside door into the darkness and hush of midnight. 
Then going back to the silent nursery, the girl sat down 
beside the crib where the innocent child slumbered, all 
unconscious of the awful change which the last few days had 
wrought in the once happy home of her heart-broken sire. 

Where the unhappy man went, or how he managed to bat- 
tle successfully against the great waves of despair that 
threatened to engulf his reason in ruin, when, man-like, he 
had turned and fled from the once bright scene where the 
first sorrow of his life had overtaken him, and from the little 
child who looked up at him with eyes so resembling those 
of her dead mother, God only knows. The man himself, in 
aftef years, could never tell. He became a wanderer in for- 
eign lands, and the bright-hued flowers of two summers had 
blossomed and dropped their sweet petals on the well-kept 
grave of his beloved wife, before reason fully resumed its 
sway, and he turned his half-reluctant face toward his native 
land. 


104 


HER SHADOWED LIFE, 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

A storm had been raging over the city all day. The wind 
hurled great cloud masses across the heavens, dipping 
down in sudden squalls and furious eddies, lashing the waters 
of the bay into whirling spots of foam, or chasing the huge 
waves like drifted snow, to the opposite shore. 

Leah sat in the nursery at Myrtle Villa, while her busy 
fingers fashioned a child’s garment. 

At her feet played two beautiful children, a boy of three 
years and a girl one year his junior. 

Often she paused in her work to gaze at the pretty picture 
made by the flaxen-haired, blue-eyed boy, and his brown- 
eyed, sunny-haired companion — her own child and that of 
the dead woman she had loved so fondly. 

It was something over two years since Mr. Gilbert, grief- 
laden, had fled from this, the scene of his sorrow, leaving his 
young child and elegant home to Leah’s care. 

Most loyally had the girl fulfilled her duties, proving that 
the confidence the banker imposed in her on the memorable 
night of his departure had not been misplaced. 

During all those months no correspondence between the 
master of the house and herself had been attempted. She 
knew nothing of his whereabouts, nor had she the least idea 
as to the date of his return home. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


io 5 

Leah laid aside her work at last, and lifted the little girl, 
who was beginning to show signs of weariness, to her lap. 

Just then a timid, half-hesitating knock fell upon the closed 
door, and Dicey, who had been busying herself in the room, 
stepped to open it. Her ample form almost hid that of the 
intruder from Leah’s sight, but the old woman’s scream of 
delight, and her glad exclamation : “ Bress de Lawd, Massa 

Gawge done come home ! ” brought her instantly to her feet, 
and with the child still clasped in her arms, she stood face 
to face with the returned wanderer. 

His complexion was deeply bronzed, and he had aged per- 
ceptibly since she last saw him, aithough his face had re- 
gained the kindly expression which habitually shone through 
its calm dignity. 

The little girl in Leah’s arms looked at the intruder with 
brown eyes, wide open in childish curiosity. Before the 
young lady had recovered her self-possession sufficiently to 
speak, Mr. Gilbert stepped quickly into the room. 

Snatching the astonished child into his own arms, he 
pressed her fondly to his heart, and while covering her face 
with tears and kisses, murmured, “ My lost darling’s child.” 

It was not surprising that Mr. Gilbert recognized his child 
at a glance, for, even had his parental instinct been at fault, 
the remarkable resemblance between the little girl and her 
dead mother would have served to direct him rightly. 

The child, finding herself thus summarily taken possession 
of by an entire stranger, and a man at that, was badly 
frightened. She struggled to free herself from the passionate 
grasp which held her so fondly, and reached her tiny arms 


io6 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


towards Miss Mansden, crying pitifully : “ Take me, Miss 
’eah, take me quick ! Me don’t ’ove dis big man ; ” and then 
as her friend did not answer, but stood overcome by emotion, 
shading her eyes with her hand, the little one appealed to her 
faithful nurse. “ Oh, Mammy, Mammy, take me, me hates dis 
man, make him doe away, me hates him.” Then noticing 
the tears streaming down Dicey’s cheeks, the child too began 
to cry; softly at first, but as the unwelcome caresses con- 
tinued to be showered upon her, she grew violent, screamed 
and kicked, and slapped her father in the face with her tiny 
hand. 

Leah came to the rescue of the little one at length, and as 
she took her again into her own arms, said gently : “ You 
must excuse your little daughter’s conduct, Mr. Gilbert ; re- 
member she has never known her father. Have patience, 
she will soon learn to love you.” 

“ Me ’on’t ’ove him,” cried the indignant baby. “ He makes 
Miss ’eah c’ye an’ he makes my Mammy c’ye. Doe away, big 
man,” and she motioned him away with her tiny hand. Then 
noticing that tears were also streaming from the “big man’s,” 
eyes her tender heart melted towards him : “ Don’t c’ye ; 

me ’ll ’ove ’ou a ’ittle bit if ’ou ’on’t take me f’om Miss ’Eah.” 

This quaint attempt at consolation on the child’s part 
brought smiles to the tear-stained faces around her. 

By and by, when they had all grown calmer, the father so 
won the heart of the child that she was induced to sit upon 
his knee, and take his diamond-encrusted watch, which he 
had held out as a bribe to her attentions, into her hands for 
inspection. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


107 

Little Herbert, who had remained a silent though amazed 
spectator of the whole scene, now went up shyly to the 
banker’s side, and laying one hand in the girl’s lap, looked 
with admiring eyes at the shining trinket she was turning 
from side to side in her tiny hands. 

“This is Miss Moore’s little charge, I suppose,” said Mr. 
Gilbert, resting his hand a moment on the child’s curly head. 
“ What is your name, little man ? 

“ Herbie Waymond,” lisped the boy, looking fearlessly into 
the kindly eyes bent upon him. 

“ Oh, ho ! I thought it was the same. He has grown to be 
a fine, handsome fellow and Mr. Gilbert’s eyes, as he spoke, 
left the boy’s face and wandered to that of Miss Mansden, 
which, for some unaccountable reason, had been suddenly 
overspread by a vivid blush. 

“ He is a very good child and we all love him dearly,” she 
said in a low voice, mentally praying the while that Mr. Gilbert 
had not noticed her confusion. He had not only noticed, and 
wondered at it, but now, as he looked from the boy’s face 
to that of the young lady, he marveled at the resemblance 
between the two. 

“ He resembles you enough to be your little brother, Miss 
Mansden,” he said, as if speaking his thoughts aloud. 

“ Do you think so ? Others have remarked upon the 
resemblance,” she answered calmly, and trying to quiet the 
loud throbbing of her heart. 

The banker regarded her face a moment with a puzzled 
expression, then the conversation drifted to other topics. 

Leah tried to give him an account of her stewardship for 


io8 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


the last two years, and brought her accounts for his inspection, 
which he only honored with a brief glance. 

She told him many an anecdote of his child’s life, her 
memory always aided in these reminiscences by the proud 
Dicey, who sat on the floor beside her beloved master’s feet, 
and listened while she “ minded de chil’un,” who, now that 
peace was restored, had returned to the play in which they had 
been interrupted by the banker’s sudden appearance. 

The sun set behind a bank of gorgeously tinted clouds, and 
the tender twilight came stealing into the nursery, where Mr. 
Gilbert still lingered, as if loath to take his eyes away from 
the little fairy who paused occasionally in her play to glance 
from beneath her long black lashes at her “ stranger 
father ” whose presence in the nursery was such a mystery 
to her. 

Soon the tea-bell sounded through the quiet house, and 
Leah said : 

“ Well, Mr. Gilbert, my mission in your house is ended ; but 
before I go permit me to tender my poor thanks for the 
unprecedented kindness which has been showered upon me 
ever since my first coming to Myrtle Villa. Words can 
never express the gratitude I owe you nor the depth of love 
and reverence with which your dear wife’s image will ever 
be enshrined in my memory.” 

Her rising emotion checked her further speech, and stoop- 
ing, she lifted the little girl to her lap, and leaning her brow 
against the brown rings of soft hair adorning the child’s head, 
burst into tears at the sudden thought of having so soon to 
part from the child she loved so well. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


109 

Mr. Gilbert took a few hurried turns across the floor in 
silence, and then, pausing before the girl and his child, said : 

“ Miss Mansden, you say your mission in my house is ended ; 
on the contrary, it seems to me it has just begun, for how 
can the child do without your loving care and wise training, 
now that she is fast outgrowing her days of infancy ? Then 
she did well enough in Dicey’s faithful care : now she needs 
another kind of care as well. Who so capable of bestowing 
this upon her as yourself, — you, who are so faithful in the 
discharge of every duty, and who love the child for her dead 
mother’s sake ? ” 

She raised her face from the child’s hair, and looked at 
him through her tears questioningly. 

“ You must not leave the child,” he said briefly, in an- 
swer to the look. 

“ I must” she replied firmly. “ Do you not realize that 
your home-coming has made it impossible for me to remain 
longer under your roof ? ” 

“ Would to God,” he said bitterly, “ that I had remained 
abroad longer, if my coming is to deprive my child of the 
motherly care you have bestowed upon her. Why not re- 
main ? ” he added imploringly. “ Miss Moore is here, and 
I shall only stay at home a few days.” 

“ I am surprised that you, who know society so well, 
should ask me why I cannot remain,” she said coldly, as 
she put the little girl down and rose to her feet. 

“ Yes, I do know society, and curse it, too, for the spirit 
of uncharitableness which pervades it to such an extent, that 
it is ever ready to ascribe evil motives to the most meritori- 




no 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


ous and innocent actions. I thought, however, that if Miss 
Moore would remain here with you, malicious tongues might 
be kept silent.” 

Leah shook her head and said : “ Miss Moore is not here. 
I could never induce her to give up Palm Cottage for a 
residence at the villa, although she often sends Herbert, as 
to-day, for company for Ruth. Were she to remain here, 
however, I could not stay under the circumstances, much as 
it grieves me to part with the little girl.” 

Before the banker had time to answer, Dicey, who had 
paused to listen as she was shaking up the snowy pillows 
into fluffy lightness which belonged to the dainty crib of the 
child, said: “What’s dat you’s talkin’ ’bout, Mis Leah, 
honey? Is you studin’ ’bout lebin’ me wid nobody to tell 
me what to do but dem fool niggahs dat don’t know half as 
much as I does, an’ a po’ baby dat ain’t got no ma, nor no- 
body to take keer of her ’cep’ me and her pa. Mis Leah, I 
hopes my ole heahin’ has done ’cebe me dis time for sho’.” 
“ No, Dicey, you heard rightly. I must go at once. You 
may bring Ruth to Palm Cottage every day to see me, if her 
father is willing, and I will do all I can to help you until 
another housekeeper comes to the villa.” 

“ Well, the Lawd help dis po’ old niggah now ! ” was 
Dicey’s pious ejaculation as she resumed her labor of love 
with a solemn face. 

Leah stooped and lifted the little boy from where he was 
sitting on the carpet at her feet, and, standing him in a chair, 
proceeded to put on his cloak and cap, preparatory to going 
home. 


Ill 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 

The banker’s child, noting the action, ran and clung to 
Leah’s skirts, and begged her to “ let Ruth go, too.” 

Mr. Gilbert took the little girl in his arms, and tried to 
hush her entreaties. 

“Ruth must stay with papa and Dicey,” he said, “and 
to-morrow we will go and see Miss Leah and Herbie.” But 
the spoiled little beauty kicked, struggled, and screamed 
until her father was glad to let Dicey take her off his hands 
and amuse her in some remote part of the house until Miss 
Leah and the little boy were out of her reach. 

“ Where are you going, Miss Mansden, if I may ask ? ” he 
said, as the door closed on the retreating forms of the nurse 
and screaming child. 

“ To Palm Cottage,” she answered briefly. “ Miss Moore 
still resides there and her home is mine.” 

He smothered down a sigh, and unclosed his lips as if to 
say something, which words he quickly repressed and said 
instead : “ At least you will allow me to order the carriage for 
you ? ” 

“ Oh, no, indeed, thank you,” she said quickly, and 
smiling as she lifted her eyes to his from where her fingers 
had been busy tying the ribbons of the boy’s cap. “ It is 
only a short distance, you know, and Herbert often walks 
it.” 

She placed the child on the floor as she spoke, and pick- 
ing up her own sailor-hat from the bed, placed it gracefully 
upon her well-poised head, and flung a scarf around her 
shoulders. 

“Come, Herbie,” she said, and taking the child’s right 


I 12 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


hand in her left, she held her disengaged one towards the 
banker, who stood looking at her with the shadow of a great 
disappointment in his eyes. 

“ Good-bye, Mr. Gilbert,” she said simply, and then sud- 
denly asked entreatingly : “You will allow Aunt Dicey to 
bring little Ruth to see me often, will you not ? ” 

“She must or the child will pine herself to death,” he 
said gloomily. 

He opened the door for them to pass out, listened to them 
going slowly down the stairs, and soon heard the massive 
hall door open and close upon them. 

Then turning quickly he seized his hat, left his lonely 
home, and took up his quarters for the night at the nearest 
hotel. 

While Leah, with all her heart-strings quivering with pain, 
accommodating her footsteps to the faltering ones of the 
little child, plodded along her spiritless way through the wet 
evening and dreary streets, with the street lamps shining in 
the pools of muddy water, to Palm Cottage. 

It was all over. Her friend and wise counselor was dead ; 
her occupation gone, and the doors of the palatial home by 
stern necessity closed against her forever. Unknown, home- 
less, and friendless, save for the faithful friendship of Martha 
and that of the banker, whose friendship she did not now 
even dare claim, what wonder that her life-hues at this 
moment were somewhat the color of the dull gray autumn 
skies above her, or the black waters of the bay that moaned 
and sobbed at her feet ? 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


IX 3 


CHAPTER XIX. 

“ You need not give me an answer now. Take time to 
reflect upon it. I have startled you, perhaps, by my abrupt- 
ness.” 

The scene is in the plainly furnished parlor at Palm Cot- 
tage ; the speaker, a tall, handsome man nearing the meridian 
of life ; the person addressed, a young woman whose age 
does not yet number twenty years, and who sits helpless and 
faint, with a deathly pale face and startled eyes, before her 
visitor. It will only take a brief glance of the reader who 
has followed the thread of this story to recognize the two as 
Mr. Gilbert, the private banker of St. Augustine, and Leah 
Mansden, the secretary and companion of his late wife. The 
time was three months after Mr. Gilbert’s sudden arrival at 
Myrtle Villa. 

During these months he had become a frequent caller at 
Palm Cottage, and society, that permits nothing to pass un- 
noticed before its uncharitable eyes, had already begun to 
shrug its shoulders, and throw out broad hints about the 
frailty of woman, while what should have been condemned 
as the dishonor of man was smiled at and condoned as the 
most natural thing in the world, and in nowise deserving con- 
demnation. That the wealthy George Gilbert would con- 
8 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


114 

descend to choose for himself a wife from among the poor 
and lowly, and one who was unknown in society’s charmed 
circles, except as a young person wholly dependent upon her 
own exertions, never occurred to the minds of the haughty 
dames and simpering misses, whose doors were always open 
and themselves ready to receive with their brightest smiles 
the “ naughty ” but fortunate man whose wealth covered up 
all his faults and shortcomings. 

To Leah’s credit be it recorded, that the thought of be- 
coming the second Mrs. Gilbert had never once entered her 
mind. The banker’s frequent calls were always made osten- 
sibly to consult her in regard to the well-being of the little 
Ruth, or to ask her advice concerning some hitch which had 
occurred in the domestic machinery at the villa, which had 
proved to be too knotty a problem for his masculine mind to 
solve. She had advertised for another situation ; and having 
received an advantageous offer from a wealthy family of 
Jacksonville to become the governess for three small girls, 
she had decided to accept it, and Miss Moore and the little 
boy were to remove with herself to the latter city with the 
beginning of the New Year, which was now only two weeks 
distant. 

It had been upon the occasion of her first unfolding her 
plans to Mr. Gilbert, when he had dropped in early one 
morning to inquire if the little boy might spend the day at 
the villa, as companion for the lovely little daughter of the 
house, that he had surprised her by an offer of marriage. 

He had made no violent declaration of his love for her ; 
had he done so, I am sure Leah would have refused him on 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


Ir 5 

the spot. He had simply said that his life was incomplete 
without her loving presence. 

“ I can never love another woman with the idolizing 
affection I bestowed upon my first wife. Such love as that 
only comes once into the life of any man. But, Miss Mans- 
den, if you can be content with reverence and fidelity on my 
part, and such love as I have to give, and become my wife, 
and the mother of my child, I pledge myself with all the 
honor of my manhood that your happiness shall ever be 
paramount in my life, over every other consideration.” 

The suddenness of the proposition, and the thoughts of 
how she had deceived him in regard to her own past before 
making his acquaintance, the consequence of which now 
stood so menacingly before her, almost deprived her of con- 
sciousness. Then he, pitying her evident agitation, had said 
kindly, as he took her cold hand between his own firm 
warm palms : 

“You need not give mean answer now. Take time to 
reflect upon it. I have startled you, perhaps, by my abrupt- 
ness.” 

She answered him never a word, and he laid her hand 
gently down, and turning away quickly, left her to herself 
and her own conflicting emotions. 

By and by Martha found her still sitting where he had left 
her, with the old look of anguish on her colorless face, which 
she had not seen there since the girl’s first great sorrow had 
spread its dark brooding wings over her young life. 

To the woman’s anxious questions as to the cause of her 
evident distress, Leah answered, with pale., dry lips : 


n6 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ Mr. Gilbert has asked me to become his wife.” 

“ Is it possible ! What answer did you give him ? ” were 
Martha’s exclamation and hurried question, as soon as she 
had recovered from her surprise as to be able to speak. 

“ I have given him none as yet,” the girl answered 
listlessly. 

“ Do you love Mr. Gilbert, Leah ? ” was the next question. 

“ Yes, I love him, but not as I loved my baby’s father,” she 
answered in a low tremulous voice. 

“ Then why should you hesitate to accept the honored 
position he offers you ? ” Martha further inquired. 

“ And you, Martha — you, who know all my bitter past, dare 
to ask me why I should not become the wife of this honor- 
able man, whom I have deceived ever since I first knew 
him ! Would you have me complete my work, and repay 
him for his generosity and goodness by perpetrating the 

•r 

greatest wrong a woman could commit against the man she 
weds ? ” she said bitterly. 

“ Oh, no, no ; infinitely no ! You ought to know me bet- 
ter than to suppose for a moment that I would advise you 
to do so wicked a thing,” returned Martha, hurt beyond ex- 
pression at the girl’s insinuation. “ Mr. Gilbert has asked 
you to become his wife ; I suppose you have given him no 
answer ? When he comes to hear your decision, lay your 
whole life before him without reserve. Tell him the motive 
which first led you to keep your early marriage, and the birth 
of your child a secret from Mrs. Gilbert when entering her 
service, and then let the decision rest with him, whether you 
become his wife or not.” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


1 17 

“ Martha, you know not what you are asking me to do. 
Bid me walk through a fiery furnace or stand in front of a 
belching cannon, and believe that I would have more courage 
to face the physical pain and death that would inevitably 
ensue, than I would have to unvail my bitter past before Mr. 
Gilbert’s eyes,” the girl replied hopelessly. 

“Then trust me to tell him for you,” the elder woman 
pleaded. 

“ Never, never ! ” Leah answered firmly. “ I would rather 
die than that Mr. Gilbert should know of my deceit.” 

“ Then, Leah, for God’s sake, for Mr. Gilbert’s sake, and 
for the sake of yourself and child, do not marry this man,” 
Martha implored with great earnestness. 

Leah made no reply to the pathetic appeal, but getting up 
from where the banker had left her sitting, dragged her 
heavy footsteps out of the room, and Martha heard her 
ascending the stairs with a slow, listless tread, as though all 
hope and happiness were crushed out of her young life 
forever. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


1 18 


CHAPTER XX. 

All that miserable day Leah, in the locked seclusion of 
her own room, battled with the awful temptation that assailed 
her peace, and held out glowing pictures of happiness which 
were in store for her, did she but hearken to the voice of the 
tempter, which must have been an unhappy spirit returned to 
earth from some unknown realm, “ seeking whom he might 
devour.” 

“ Should she heed Martha’s advice ? ” She asked her 
heart over and over again. 

“ Do so, and see your suitor turn from you with disgust 
and scorn too deep for utterance,” replied the voice of the 
tempter. 

“ Then I shall simply tell him that it is impossible for 
me to become his wife, and give him no reason for my 
refusal.” 

“ And take your place with the hard-handed children of 
toil. Go back to poverty and privation, and see your son 
grow to manhood amid environments which will be a barrier 
to his education and future usefulness,” whispered the wily 
tempter. 

All the long hours of that, to her, never-to-be-forgotten 
night, when no white-robed angel of sleep came to soothe her 
into even a brief forgetfulness of the maddening question as 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


TI 9 

to which course she should pursue, she tossed upon her 
restless couch, bathing her hot pillow with tears, and the first 
beams of the winter sun, streaming in through her uncovered 
window-panes, found her as undecided as she had been when 
her tormenting vigils began. 

Martha came to her door a little later wfith a cup of 
delicious coffee she herself knew so well how to prepare, and 
begged the girl for admittance. When the door was opened 
at length, the woman looked with pitying eyes on the pale, 
haggard, young face, which told more plainly than words 
could express of the anguish of mind its owner was passing 
through. She sat down on the side of the bed and smoothed 
back the thick hair from Leah’s hot brow, and pressed her to 
drink the beverage she had brought. 

Martha did not refer, however, to the topic which had 
been the subject of their conversation the morning before. 
She was not a woman given to nagging or harassing others 
with her opinions or importunities. When occasion required 
she spoke her mind frankly, and gave her sound, practical 
advice freely, and then there was an end of it, as far as she 
herself was concerned. She had discharged what she con- 
sidered to be her duty, and quickly washed her hands, so to 
speak, of the whole matter. 

After Leah had drunk the coffee she felt much refreshed, 
and Martha left her again to herself and her torturing thoughts. 
She rose and took her morning bath and made a careful 
toilet. Just as it was completed she heard the sharp click of 
the front gate latch, and looking out at the window, saw the 


120 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


handsome, erect form of the banker walking up to the front 
door, with his usual graceful, proud carriage. 

Her heart gave a mighty bound, and the blood rushed to 
her brain in a blinding wave. She pressed her hand tightly 
to her loudly beating heart, and descended the stairs in time 
to open the door in answer to his ring. Little Herbert was 
playing in the hall as she passed, and laid hold of her skirts 
with his chubby hands, and held up his rosy lips for a 
morning kiss. She stooped and lifted the child in her arms 
and pressed him for a moment to her aching heart* Then, 
kissing the little upturned face again and again, she put the 
child down and hurried on her way, just as the second im- 
patient ring echoed through the house. In a moment more 
she was leading the way before Mr. Gilbert to the parlor. 

The expression of his face was not one that would indicate 
he was wholly devoid of hope of a favorable answer to the 
momentous question which he had left in Miss Mansden’s 
hands to decide. 

After they had reached the shaded seclusion of the parlor, 
he took both her hands within his own, and said tenderly : 
“ I am here for my answer, Miss Mansden. Leah, dear 
Leah, you will bid me hope ? ” 

It was the first time she had ever heard her baptismal 
name pass his lips, and the sound sent an unaccountable 
thrill through every fiber of her being. She hung her head, 
her face was suffused with blushes, and the hands he held 
so tenderly, yet firmly, trembled in his grasp. He dropped 
her right hand, and putting the fingers of his own beneath 
her fair chin, tried to raise her face toward him, as he said : 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


12 I 


“ Look into my eyes, little one, and tell me you are not going 
to send me from the light of your presence with the weight 
of a crushing disappointment upon my heart.” 

“ But there is something I must tell you before I promise 
to become your wife,” she faltered, and the violet eyes she 
lifted pitifully to those of her suitor were briming with 

tears, — “ a confession, a ” Her tears burst forth like a 

sudden April shower, and sobs choked her further utterance. 

Mr. Gilbert drew her head to his breast and encircled her 
trembling form with his strong arms. 

“ A confession, little one ? Well, what is it ? Are you 
going to tell me that some one else has possession of the 
heart I covet ? ” 

“ Oh, no, no,” she sobbed, with her face hidden near his 
heart, the violent throbbing of which fell audibly upon her 
hearing. 

“ And you do not love another ? ” He bent his face lower 
over the head with its wealth of sunny hair resting upon his 
bosom, as he asked the eager question and waited her reply. 

“ I do not love another,” came the muffled answer. 

“ And you do love me, little one ? Love me sincerely and 
fondly, despite the disparity in our ages ; and you will soon 
give me the proud privilege to call you by the sacred name 
of wife ? ” 

The reply made to this tender appeal was very broken, 
and part of it inaudible even to his keen sense of hearing. 
But what he heard satisfied him, for he held her in his arms 
and kissed her tears away, and said soothingly : 

“ My darling, this is all I want to know. You love me 


122 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


and wili be my wife, and I have the proud satisfaction of 
knowing that I have won a priceless jewel, a noble, tender, 
and heroic woman ; one who held her head erect through all 
the frowns bestowed upon her by the fickle god, Fortune ; 
and one who, though unprotected and alone, was strong 
enough to battle with adverse circumstances bravely, and 
keep herself pure and unspotted from the world. My darling, 
I ask no greater boon on earth than the love of such a one 
as you have proved yourself to be.” 

With a little sigh of content she nestled in his arms and 
gave herself up to the intoxication of his caresses and words 
of praise, not unlike a poor storm-tossed bird, weary of 
breasting the tempest, and willing at last to rest passively in 
the hands of its captor, and for the time forget what the 
consequences of its captivity might be. The last golden 
opportunity for the confession which had hung tremblingly 
upon her lips was lost, and lay, like a delicate vase, shattered 
by one rude blow, the many broken pieces of which no 
mortal hand could ever cement into even a semblance of its 
former beauty. 

Before the lovers parted, which was an hour later, an 
early day was fixed for their nuptials, when the doors of 
Myrtle Villa would be flung wide open to receive its new 
mistress. 

After Mr. Gilbert had finally taken a tender leave of his 
affianced bride, she, not daring to meet the questioning eyes 
of Martha, started at once to escape to her room. Again 
she came upon the baby boy, who had loaded his toy cart 
with blocks and started on a journey with them to the oppo- 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


123 

site end of the hall. He called out to Leah as she came in 
sight : “ Sis’er ” — the name he always called her — “ tome an’ 
see my ’oad of ’ood. Me is doin’ to take it to ve kitchen for 
Aunt Dinah to took wiv.” 

She paused and looked down into the innocent face a mo- 
ment, with eyes whose tender lovelight of a few moments 
before was quenched in an irrepressible world of anguish. 
Then quickly snatching up the astonished child, she ran up- 
stairs with him, and going into her own room, locked the 
door after her and laid him on the bed. She sank on her 
knees before him, and gave way to such a storm of tempest- 
uous weeping that the very angels in heaven must have 
pitied her, despite the one great fault that marred the beauty 
of her character. 

“ Oh, my baby, my baby ! my own flesh and blood ! How 
you would loathe and despise the being who gave you birth 
were you old enough to understand what a cowardly wretch 
that mother is ! Oh, darling, turn away your innocent, fright- 
ened eyes from my face before I go raving mad ! Oh, my 
God, my God, what have I done ! Herbert, Herbert, from 
your home in heaven, how you must despise me now ! ” 

“ Oh, sis’er, sis’er ! ” wailed the little boy upon the bed, 
who had, up to this time, been too frightened and astonished 
to utter a word, “ what is ve matter ? Don’t c’y — oh, don’t 
c’y. Hebie ’oves ’ou, an’ he ’ill be dood. Oh, sis’er, sis’er, 
p’ease don’t c’y ; ” and in a moment the baby’s arms were 
wound tightly around the kneeling woman’s neck, and the 
little one’s sobs and tears mingled with her own. 

A quick, energetic step in the hall, and Martha’s voice 


124 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


sounded through the closed door : “ Leah, are you here, and 
is the baby with you ? I cannot find him any place.” 

1 “Yes, me’s heah, Aunt Martie. P’ease tome in, my poor 
sis’er’s c’ying so loud,” bleated out the sharp baby voice to 
the listener’s ears. A hand was laid on the door-knob, but 
the door was tightly locked. 

“ Open the door, Leah,” Martha demanded, and without 
a word the young mother obeyed, and Martha, with a world 
of reproach in her affectionate ey-^s, stood before her. She 
had seen Mr. Gilbert as he was leaving the house, and by 
his springing step and happy face knew that he had gained 
the day. 

“ Oh, Martha,” Leah burst forth passionately, “ I have 
promised to become Mr. Gilbert’s wife, and — cowardly wretch 
that I am ! — my secret is still hidden from him.” 

“Is there no appeal from your decision ? Is it too late to 
undo what you have done ? ” the woman asked eagerly. 

“ Oh, yes, it is too late, too late ! I must either fulfill my 
promise just as I am, or fill a suicide’s grave, for I could 
never, never now endure the shame of a confession. I will 
kill myself first ! ” 

“ Hush, Leah, hush ! ” Martha commanded sternly. “ You 
have chosen your own path, now walk in it like a brave wo- 
man, without weakly looking back or shedding useless tears. 
Give me the child, and his welfare shall be the study of my 
life.” She took the boy in her strong arms as she spoke, 
and wiped his tears away. 

“ Oh, do not reproach me, for God’s sake,” cried the dis- 
tressed young mother. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


I2 5 


“ No, I shall not reproach you ; your own conscience will 
do that,” the woman answered sternly. “Of course you will 
give the child to me,” she continued. “ I will try to be both 
father and mother to him.” 

“ He has always been your child, dear Martha,” Leah an- 
swered gently, “ and shall continue to be. But now I shall 
be able to defray all his expenses, and give you and the boy 
a beautiful home of your own. The child, if he lives, shall 
have all the advantages of education that wealth can pro- 
cure.” 

“ And what shall I tell him, Leah, when he has grown to 
years of understanding and asks me for a history of his 
parents and ancestors ? ” Martha asked grimly. 

Leah biirst into tears again. “ Oh, Martha,” she cried, 
“ you, who know something of my suffering, should forbear 
to torture me so. God knows I am trying to do what seems 
to me to be the best for us all.” 

“ God grant that your own unhappiness may not be sealed 
instead, my poor misguided child,” Martha replied, as she 
put the boy down, and drawing Leah’s head to her bosom, 
kissed the quivering, troubled lips. The girl raised her hand 
to pat the cheek of her only true and tried friend, and the 
brilliant diamond in the engagement ring which the banker 
had that morning placed upon her white finger, sparkled and 
glowed like a living flame in the bright morning sunbeams. 




126 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


CHAPTER XXI. 

“ Married, in this city, at ten o’clock a.m., November 27, 
at St. John’s Episcopal Church, by Rev. Thomas Louden, 
Hon. George G. Gilbert, to Miss Leah Mansden, all of this 
city. No cards.” 

This simple announcement, appearing in the “ St. Augus- 
tine News,” a week after the incidents transpired related in 
the preceding chapter, fell with startling effect upon the bon 
ton of the ancient city. 

These society devotees read the announcement over and 
over again, as though they could scarcely believe their eyes, 
and then some one exclaimed : 

“ Who ever heard of such a mesalliance ? Has George 
Gilbert lost his senses ? ” 

“ It was all the girl’s fault. She is an artful minx, and 
no doubt has used her deceitful wiles to entrap the banker 
into a marriage with herself ever since the death of his first 
wife. What fools men are ! Were they ever known to see 
through a woman’s deceit ? ” chimed in a second voice. 

“ Especially when the woman happens to be young and 
beautiful like Miss Mansden,” laughed a male voice. 

“ She may be young, but she certainly is not beautiful,” 
retorted the first speaker, bristling with resentment, at the 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


127 

compliment paid to the personal appearance of the poor girl 
who had carried off the prize in the matrimonial market. 

“ Besides, who was she ? A Miss Nobody, hailing from 
Nowhere, with neither home nor relative as far as we know.” 
“Tut, tut, girls, don’t be so uncharitable. I am sure that 
the young lady has deported herself well since she came to 
this city,” said an old gentleman reprovingly. 

“ Well, Mr. Gilbert’s pride must have taken a mighty fall 
when he chose his late wife’s salaried companion for his 
wife, and mother to his little daughter.” 

“ A pi'opos, speaking of his child, how long has her mother 
been dead ? ” inquired an old lady in the group. 

“ Two years and three months,” some one answered. 

“ Do you remember how distressed you all were about the 
poor man’s grief at the time, and feared that he would soon 
die of a broken heart, or go crazy, or commit suicide, or 
something of the sort ? Oh, my dears, I was not in the least 
alarmed about him. I am an old lady, and have seen 
much of the world, and have never known it to fail : the 
more heartbroken the widower at the death of his wife, the 
sooner will he console himself with another ; ” and the old 
lady laughed softly and beamed on the bevy of young people 
around her, over her gold-rimmed eye-glasses. 

“ Mr. Gilbert might at least have chosen his wife’s suc- 
cessor from his own set, and not stooped down to pick up a 
nobody,” pouted a rosy-cheeked damsel. “ I wonder who is 
going to call on her ? Not I, for one.” 

“ Nor I,” “ Nor I,” “ Nor I,” chorused the others. 

It is the way of the world, dear reader, you know, so why 


128 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


should we waste our valuable time in listening to the in- 
dignation expressed by those society leaders, because one of 
“ their set ” had so far forgotten his duty to society as to 
marry a poor and unknown person ? 

It mattered not however richly endowed this person may 
have been with attributes that go to make a noble woman. 
She was poor and unknown, and that was enough to brand 
her as unworthy to enter with the elite. 

Therefore we will leave these ladies and gentlemen (?) to 
express their indignation and contempt to their hearts’ con- 
tent, while we follow the fortunes of Mr. Gilbert and his 
young bride, who knew and cared nothing about “ the tem- 
pest in a teapot ” their sudden marriage had caused among 
the banker’s aristocratic friends. 

The wedding had been a strictly private one, only a half- 
dozen of Mr. Gilbert’s most intimate friends being invited to 
witness the ceremony, or knew anything about the affair. 
The bridal party had left the city immediately after the wed- 
ding ceremony for Cuba, on a short wedding journey. In 
five weeks they returned, and the broken threads of domestic 
happiness at Myrtle Villa were gathered up, and Leah was 
installed as mistress in the palatial home where once she had 
occupied a very different position. 

The study of the late Mrs. Gilbert was allowed to remain 
undisturbed, just as the gentle lady had left it, when she laid 
down her life-work to obey the summons that comes early or 
late to all God’s children. To this room, kept sacred to the 
memory of one dearly beloved, both husband and wife 
came often, with feelings akin to those that fill a Roman 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


129 


Catholic’s heart when kneeling before a holy shrine. The 
young Mrs. Gilbert was a person of marked refinement of 
character, coupled with a wealth of good sense and tact. 
She made no attempt to gain recognition from the gay but- 
terfly world which her husband had insulted by a marriage 
with herself. She made no vulgar display of wealth — a mis- 
take made by many a one suddenly elevated from a humble 
to a wealthy position ; and with her quiet, unassuming, but 
gently dignified manner, she pursued the quiet tenor of her 
way, undisturbed by the cold politeness or supercilious glances 
of her aristocratic neighbors. By and by when the fact be- 
gan to dawn upon the would-be-very-select set, that their 
good-will was a matter of small moment to either the banker 
or his fair wife, with human perversity it began to make over- 
tures for their friendship, and calls and invitations began to 
pour in upon them. This concession on society’s part was 
met with the same gentle dignity by Mrs. Gilbert, that its 
former disposition to ignore her had been. Consequently it 
became the fashion to cultivate the friendship of the banker’s 
young wife, and ere long she became the leader in the very 
set which had once tried to look upon her with cold disdain. 
This position, although wholly unsought, was greatly enjoyed 
by Leah, who now was tasting for the first time the sweets of 
fashionable life. 

Myrtle Villa became the scene of many a fashionable gath- 
ering, the like of which it never knew during the first Mrs. 
Gilbert’s lifetime. For while all her neighbors, both rich and 
poor, had known and loved this charming lady, who was always 
foremost in all charitable movements, and with a wealth of 
9 


1 3° 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


sympathy for all earth’s sorrowing children, her tastes and lit- 
erary work had led her to prefer the quiet seclusion of her 
own home to the fashionable rounds of gay society. Hence, 
society had accepted the decree good-naturedly enough, con- 
soling itself the while with the charming productions emanat- 
ing from the talented lady’s industrious pen, while the author 
was left undisturbed to enjoy her home and family, or revel 
in a world of her own creation. Now a new state of things 
was inaugurated ; balls, lawn parties, and receptions became 
the order of the day, or rather night, at the banker’s elegant 
residence, and the young mistress of this hospitable home 
was the brightest star in the constellation of society beauties 
that shone in the firmament of this southern town. It must 
be confessed that this innovation did not exactly suit Mr. Gil- 
bert’s quiet tastes. Being much in love with his young wife, 
however, and moreover having an intuition, which he had 
never been able to banish, that she was not wholly happy, he 
demurred not at anything that might give her pleasure. “ If 
she has a secret sorrow, and can find solace for it in society, 
why should she not accept it ? ” he said to himself, with all 
the greatness of heart characteristic of his noble nature. So 
he smiled on her whims indulgently, while she received the 
homage paid her by society, in her own queenly way. Leah 
was very fond of Ruth, and the little girl fairly adored her 
“ pretty mamma,” as she proudly called her ; and as the banker 
would not permit the care of his child to become a burden 
to his young wife, all went well. So passed the first year of 
their married life, and then another child was born at Myrtle 
Villa. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


1 3 1 

“ See what the good angels have brought us, darling,” 
said the proud father, as he held the astonished Ruth up to 
peep into the downy nest, where reposed the late addition to 
the happy family. “ A little sister for you.” 

The child looked with big round eyes for a moment at the 
little pink face and then said, with a frown, “ I don’t want a 
sister, I don’t want anybody but Herbie. Please make the 
angels take her away aden, papa, and we will send Dicey 
to bring Herbie to stay in her place.” 

They all laughed at the child-speech, and Mr. Gilbert said 
to his smiling wife, “Ruth does not intend that Herbert shall 
have a rival in her affections at any rate.” 

Miss Moore and the little boy still resided at Palm Cottage, 
and the care and devotion the maiden lady showered upon 
the orphan child was a beautiful example of motherly love 
which many a fashionable mother might well have emulated. 


i3 2 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

It was just three months after the birth of the banker’s 
second daughter, whom they had named Esther, and Mrs. 
Gilbert was that night to make her first appearance in so- 
ciety since the birth of the child. The occasion was a grand 
ball given in honor of a Spanish grandee, who had been visit- 
ing the city once owned by his noble ancestors. It would 
have been a difficult matter for one who had not seen Leah 
since she came to St. Augustine, as private secretary and com- 
panion of the late Mrs. Gilbert, to have recognized this 
superbly dressed and stately lady as the pale, quiet, and 
altogether unassuming girl known at that time as Leah 
Mansden. 

The French creole maid, with many an involuntary ex- 
clamation of delight, was just putting the finishing touches 
to the lady’s superb toilet, who stood, a vision of loveliness, 
before a large beveled French mirror in her elegant dressing- 
room, when a boy appeared at the door with a note for Mrs. 

Gilbert. The lady recognized Martha’s handwriting at a 

* 

glance, and hastily breaking the seal, read : 

“Come to the cottage immediately. Herbert is very 
sick. 

“ Martha.” 

“ Is the carriage ready ? ” Leah asked quickly, addressing 
the maid. 


HER SHADO WED LIFE. 


133 


“ It is, Madame, but ze master has returned not yet. He 
left ze house shortly after tea, and ze Madame remembers he 
said he would return not until ten o’clock, and now it is only 
nine.” 

Theresa lisped her broken English prettily, as she glanced 
at the silver and gold clock ticking musically upon its 
daintily carved shelf. 

“ It is yet too early for ze Madame to go to ze ball,” she 
said. 

“ Miss Moore has sent for me. Her little boy is very ill, 
and I am going at once to Palm Cottage,” Mrs. Gilbert re- 
plied calmly. 

“ Mon Dieu /” exclaimed Theresa, aghast at the announce- 
ment. “ Ze Madame vill go not to zee ze zick child, dressed 
as zhe is in von beautiful, von zuberbe ball costume ? ” 

Mrs. Gilbert cut her expostulation short by saying : 

“I must go immediately. Bring my long dark circular 
cloak from the wardrobe, Theresa.” 

“ Vy not zend me instead, Madame ? ” further remonstrated 
the disturbed maid as she brought her mistress the desired 
garment. “ It vas more fitting zat I go to von cottage to ad- 
ministair to ze zick boy, zan Madame, dressed in von zuberbe 
costume, wiz ze diamonds already in ze hair, on ze neck, and 
ze arms. Mon Dieu f Madame might be robbed on ze street. 
Zen, zink, Madame, ze night air vill take all ze crimp out of 
ze lovely hair, all ze pearl powder off ze beautiful cheeks and 
neck, and ze zuberbe costume vill be crushed.” 

But the lady had enveloped her form quickly beneath the 
protecting folds of the dark cloak, and was leaving the room 
before Theresa had finished the list of accidents liable to be- 


*34 


HER SHAH OWED LIFE. 


fall her mistress if she persisted in her determination to go 
at once to Palm Cottage. 

“ Tell Mr. Gilbert, when he returns,” she called back as 
her feet touched the hall, “ that he will find me at Palm 
Cottage,” and in a moment more her hurried footsteps de- 
scended the stairs, and leaving the house, she sprang into 
the waiting carriage, and giving her order to the coachman, 
was driven rapidly away. 

“ Mon Dieu /” exclaimed Theresa, as she heard the front 
door close after her mistress’ departure from the house — 
“Mon Dieu! going to ze little cottage on St. George Street 
in zat beautiful, zuberbe costume to zee ze zick child of von 
poor woman ! Oh, if heaven had been kind to me, and 
given me ze wealth of Madame, so zat I too could have had 
ze beautiful clothes, ze fine diamonds, ze rich laces, I would 
not so leetle appreciation have as to trouble my head over ze 
poor people an’ ze zick children.” And Theresa, with a 
look of unutterable contempt for what she considered her 
mistress’ folly, turned back to the dressing-room and began 
to restore it to its usual orderly appearance. 

Meantime, Leah, having been put down in front of Palm 
Cottage, ascended the steps quickly, and as quickly crossed 
the little piazza, and, entering unannounced, ran up the 
stairs, her satin garments rustling softly, and soon stood 
before Martha, who had just placed the sick child in his 
crib. 

“ Oh, Leah ! he has had two dreadful convulsions. I feared 
he would die before you could get here,” was Martha’s 
greeting. 

“ How long has he been sick, and why did you not let me 



“Tell Mr. Gilbert 


that he will find me at Palm Cottage.” — Page 134 




























































• 














HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


I 3S 


know sooner ? ” were Leah’s hurried questions, as, with 
loudly beating heart and blanched cheeks, she bent over the 
suffering child. 

“ He was taken suddenly ill this evening about eight 
o'clock. The servant had gone for the night, and I had to 
leave him alone while I was looking for a boy by whom I 
sent the note to you. I also told the boy to call at Dr. 
Cadova’s office, and ask the physician to come here immedi- 
ately. When I returned to the room, I found the child in the 
second convulsion. Since he came out of it he is sleeping 
and seems easier, but I do hope Dr. Cadova will soon come.” 

The little boy was arrayed in his snowy night-dress ; the 
yellow curls shone like coils of gold against his white brow. 
Dark circles lay under the closed eyes, and his face flushed 
and paled alternately. As Leah bent over him, a low moan 
escaped the slightly parted lips, and fell like a stab on her 
anguished heart. 

“ Martha, we must have a physician immediately. The 
child is very ill.” 

She walked to the front window as she spoke, and lifting 
the sash, threw open the shutters and stood listening intently 
for a moment, hoping to hear the coming of the physician 
for whom Martha had sent ; but no passer-by paused at the 
gate, and closing the window, the young mother turned back 
to the bedside of the suffering child, just in time to catch the 
little form to her aching heart as it began to quiver in 
another convulsion. 

“ Martha, for God’s sake, run for the doctor yourself. The 
child will die if something is not done for his speedy relief.” 

A moment later Martha was flying bare-headed along the 


1 36 HER SHADOWED LIFE. 

almost deserted street that led to the office of Mrs. Gilbert’s 
family physician. She had not far to go, but when she 
reached the office she found it dark, closed, and deserted. 
In despair she was turning away to seek another physician, 
when she ran against a gentleman who had just alighted 
from a carriage drawn up to the sidewalk. 

“ I beg your pardon, madam,” the gentleman said politely, 
as he stepped aside to allow the woman to pass. 

“ It is I who should ask pardon,” replied the distressed 
Martha. “I did not see you. I was running to find a 
physician for my child, who is so very sick that I fear he will 
die before I can find one. Oh, sir, can you tell me where I 
may be likely to find a doctor? ” 

“ Being a stranger in this city, I am sorry that I cannot 
give you the needed information, but I, myself, am a physi- 
cian, and my services are at your disposal.” 

“ Oh, how fortunate ! ” she exclaimed in a tone of relief. 
“ Then please come with me with all possible haste.” 

Without another word the man turned to accompany her, 
and five minutes later the two entered the room at Palm Cot- 
tage, where Mrs. Gilbert was watching with the sick child. 
The little sufferer had grown calm again, and was quietly 
resting on the snowy pillows of the crib. 

The bedroom lamp was burning dimly upon the table, and 
Mrs. Gilbert sat by the child’s side holding one of its feverish 
hands. The dark cloak which covered the magnificent ball- 
dress still enveloped her form, making the diamonds which 
flashed from her hair and upon the white uncovered wrist of 
the hand which held that of the child’s shine with a strange, 
incongruous effect. 




“ Mrs. (jilbert had dropped the child’s hand, risen to her feet and stood 
confronting the stranger.” — Page i -57. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


1 37 


Martha flung open the door, and the tall gentlemanly- 
appearing stranger followed her. He had left his hat, light 
overcoat, and gloves in the hall below, and entered the room 
with a quiet professional air. 

“I could not find Dr. Cadova,” Martha said; “but, for- 
tunately, I met another physician who was kind enough to 
come with me. How is the poor little darling ? ” and Mar- 
tha, with her face white and drawn with anxiety, bent her 
head over the sleeping boy. 

Mrs. Gilbert had dropped the child’s hand, risen to her 
feet, and stood confronting the stranger. He was a tall, 
elegant-looking man of apparently twenty-five years of age, 
erect and graceful in figure, with deeply-bronzed complexion, 
black curly hair, and dark silky mustache. He stood looking 
at the beautiful woman before him with a look of amaze- 
ment in his large black eyes, that for a moment held him 
spellbound and speechless. 

In that one moment of breathless silence the mist of years 
was swept aside from Leah’s vision. The wreck of disap- 
pointed hopes which had marked her pathway disappeared. 
The hours of watching and waiting, the anguish of cherishing 
a “ hope long deferred,” the tears, the prayers, the final 
weak yielding to temptation, — all, all dissolved in the bright 
sunlight of happiness that flooded her soul in this supreme 
moment when, instead of accosting a stranger, she stood 
face to face with the husband of her girlhood. The grave 
had given up its dead, and the loved and lost one had 
returned to claim her as his own. Oh moment of delusive 
happiness ! What infinite kindness had her soul taken 
flight to its eternal home before consciousness returned, 


*38 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


bringing all the hideous facts that existed to forever rear 
their hydra-heads, mocking her for her lost happiness ! 

She tottered a few steps toward the stranger and extended 
her cold hands, crying : “ Herbert, Herbert ! Thank God 
that you have come at last.” Her voice sounded faint and 
broken, as one speaking in the delirium of fever, and the 
import of her words did not reach the ears of Martha, who 
was still anxiously bending over the sick child. Then she 
heard the voice of the man, in tones she never forgot to her 
dying day, so full of love and tenderness and joyful surprise 
were they, crying : “ My darling, my darling, my love, my 
wife, my precious wife ! ” and lifting her startled head, she 
gazed at the scene before her — a scene which at first sight 
struck her dumb and helpless. 

Leah had been gathered to the strange physician’s heart. 
His arms enfolded her in a passionate clasp. Her white bare 
arms, upon which the costly gems were flashing, were wound 
about his neck, while the lips of the pair met in a long loving 
kiss, such as must thrill departed souls who have loved in 
life, borne the anguish of separation brought about by death, 
and are at last reunited on the blissful shores of immortality. 

“ In the name of God, what is the meaning of this ? ” cried 
Martha at length ; and the pallor which had been spread 
over her strong features by anxiety for the sick child was 
replaced by a burning wave of indignation. “ What do you 
mean, I say, by such unholy conduct ? ” and the woman 
strode with firm, determined step in front of the pair still 
clasped in one another’s arms. The man raised his head 
and looked into the questioner’s angry face. 

“ Martha,” he said gently, “ is it possible that you do not 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


*39 

recognize me — Leah’s husband, Herbert Raymond, from 
whom she was separated by the most cruel mischance. 

One moment of bewilderment came into Martha’s face as 
she listened to the man’s words and looked into his eyes ; 
then the recognition was complete. 

“ Dare you, villain that you are, call yourself the husband 
of a woman whose heart you won in her innocent childhood, 
only for the vile purpose of breaking it ? You, who deserted 
her before the first fortnight of your wedded life had passed, 
and have left her ever since to bear the shame and burden 
alone that your sins brought upon her ? Dastardly wretch ! ” 
she cried, her eyes fairly blazing with righteous wrath, “take 
your arms from about this woman, who is polluted by your 
unholy touch, and leave this house before I give you into 
the hands of the police.’'’ 

She laid hold of Leah’s arm as she spoke, and tried to 
draw her from his embrace. 

“ Woman,” he cried in a deep voice, trembling with excite- 
ment and anger, “ touch her not ; take your hands from my 
wife’s arm. I have found her, thank God, after years of 
weary searching, and now no power on earth, in heaven, or in 
hell shall separate us. She is my wife, my own : loosen your 
grasp on her arm, I tell you, before I forget that you are a 
woman ! ” and his eyes blazed with almost insane wrath. 

“ Leah, Leah ! ” cried the distracted Martha, appealing to 
the young woman lying with inert form in the man’s strong 
grasp, while her head lay passively on his broad breast. 
‘‘ Leah, will you permit this — will you permit it , knowing all 
that you do; will you permit this villain to hold you in his 
arms and call you by the holy name of wife ? ” 


140 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ She is my wife, woman, and I dare any power on earth 
to take her from me,” the man cried vehemently. 

“ She knows that you speak falsely,” Martha said, with a 
calmness that bore conviction with it. “ She is not your 
wife, but the wife of an honorable citizen of this city, and the 
mother of his child.” 

“ Leah, Leah, for God’s sake tell me that the woman 
lies,” he cried, bending his white face over the one reposing 
upon his breast. 

“ God have mercy upon me, Herbert ! ” Leah moaned. 
“ God have mercy upon us both ! Oh, that I had died before 
this confession was forced upon me ; — she speaks the truth : 
I am another man’s wife. Oh, my love, my love ! why did 
you desert me, and let me think you dead for five long, weary 
years ? ” 

She straightened herself up as she spoke, as if she had 
suddenly realized the awful gulf which lay between her and 
her first love. The man’s arms relaxed their hold from about 
her form, and he staggered back as if he had received a 
sudden and stunning blow in the face. 

“ Another man’s wife ! — another man’s wife ! ” he repeated 
in a dazed manner, as he clasped his hands to his throbbing 
temples. “ Merciful God ! Oh, Leah, Leah, have I only 
found you to bear the double pain of knowing that you are 
lost to me forever ? ” He sank on his knees and buried his 
face in his hands as he moaned out : “ It cannot — it must 

not be true.” 

The sick child, which had slept peacefully upon its downy 
pillows, all unconscious of the throes of anguish rending the 
hearts of its parents, stirred uneasily, and Martha, with a 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


141 

white, grim face, returned to her watch beside its crib. 
Leah knelt beside the man’s kneeling figure and tried to draw 
his hands from his face. 

“ Oh, Leah ! ” he cried with white lips, “ as soon should I 
have suspected God’s angels of being untrue as yourself.” 

“ Herbert, why did you desert me all these years ? I 
thought that you were dead ; for I did not believe that any- 
thing but death would have kept you from coming to claim 
me as your wife. Oh, speak, and tell me why you did not 
keep your vows ; and then all these cruel mistakes had been 
avoided. Oh, how I grieved and wept, waited and prayed 
for your return, only He who understands the human heart 
knows. Why did you desert me, Herbert, when I loved you 
so ? ” she sobbed. 

He took her cold hands between his trembling ones and 
said wearily : “ I did not desert you, Leah ; as God is my 
witness, I did not. I was a victim to the most cruel accident 
that ever shattered a man’s happiness and wrecked his life. 
Listen while I relate what happened to me after I bade you 
good-bye, as I thought, for a short time, and then you will 
acquit me of all blame.” 

As the man uttered these words the sound of carriage 
wheels fell upon the ears of the three distracted persons in 
the sick child’s room ; hurried footsteps ascended the steps, 
crossed the small porch, and soon the ring of the door-bell 
sounded through the little house. 

“It is Mr. Gilbert — my husband ! ” faltered Leah, spring- 
ing to her feet, while a burning blush suffused her pale face. 

“ Your husband ! Oh, my God ! ” groaned the man, again 
burying his face in his hands. 


142 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


Leah laid her hand a moment on his bowed head in tender 
pity ; then, turning in alarm to Martha, said : “ Go, Martha, 
and show Mr. Gilbert into the parlor ; I will be down in a 
moment.” 

“ For heaven’s sake, be careful,” the woman said, as her 
hand rested on the door-knob. “ If the relations once sus- 
tained between you two become publicly known, the heart 
of the noblest man on earth will be broken.” With this she 
left the room, softly closing the door after her. 

“ Yes, Herbert, we must be careful, and, for the sake of 
others, keep our secret sacred.” 

“ But, Leah, I will never give you up,” he said, springing 
up and grasping her arm — “ never : you are my lawfully 
wedded wife, and death to him who dares to come between 
us.” 

“Oh, hush! for mercy’s sake,” she cried entreatingly ; 
“you know not what you say. You had better plunge a 
dagger into my heart than betray me.” 

She grew so ashen white at the danger that menaced her 
that he put out his hand involuntarily to support her. 

“ Meet me here to-morrow night at nine o’clock, and I will 
explain what kept me from your side,” he whispered, as foot- 
steps were heard approaching the door outside, and Martha’s 
voice saying : 

“ He is sleeping nicely now, but I think you had better 
not come into the room, Mr. Gilbert, for fear it might disturb 
him.” 

“ Nonsense, Miss Moore,” laughed the voice of a man, 
which Leah recognized as Mr. Gilbert’s. “ I am used to 
babies : I will not disturb the little fellow in the least.” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


*43 


“ Don’t betray me, for Christ’s sake,” Leah whispered, 
half crazed by fright. “You are only the physician called 
to attend the sick child.” 

“ God give me strength to sustain my part,” the man said 
through his set teeth, as he approached the crib and took the 
child’s delicate wrist in his hand and felt for the pulse ; “ but 
to-morrow night — to-morrow night, Leah, for God’s sake, do 
not fail to meet me.” 

“ If I live, I will be here,” she panted breathlessly, as the 
door flew open admitting Martha, pale and harassed to death, 
with Mr. Gilbert close upon her heels. Mrs. Gilbert drew 
her cloak more closely about her, and stood with eyes riveted 
upon the sick child’s face. The banker was in full evening 
dress, and looked handsome and stylish as he paused beside 
the bed of the sick boy, and said anxiously, as he noted his 
wife’s colorless face : “ Why, Leah, are you so frightened 
about the condition of the child ? or are you ill yourself ? 
You are as pale as death itself. What is the matter, little 
one ? ” and his wife’s hand, which he took fondly within his 
own as he spoke, trembled in his tender grasp. 

“ The child has had convulsions, and I was very much 
alarmed for his safety,” she said with dry lips, and not dar- 
ing to raise her eyes to Mr. Gilbert’s face. 

The banker’s eyes wandered from the troubled face of his 
wife to that of the sleeping boy, and after placing his white 
hand for a moment on the child’s curly head, said : “ I think 
you are needlessly alarmed, my love ; the child is sleeping 
quietly, has not much fever, and will, no doubt, soon be all 
right again. I suppose this gentleman is the physician ; ask 
him if my surmises are not correct.” 


144 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


The physician, who had been bending over the child, raised 
his head, and his eyes and the banker’s met. 

“ Doctor Raymond — Mr. Gilbert,” Leah said, in a strangely 
faltering tone, and the hands of the two men, holding such 
strange relations to one another, were clasped in a semblance 
of friendship. 

“ The child is not alarmingly ill,” Dr. Raymond said, and 
his voice was low and husky. “ Give the medicine as di- 
rected, and I will see the patient again in the morning.” 
Then turning abruptly, he said : “ Good-evening,” and bowed 
himself out of the room. 

“ What a crusty doctor ! ” said Mr. Gilbert, as they heard 
the front door close on the physician’s retreating form. 
“ How did you happen to call him instead of Dr. Cadova, 
Miss Moore ? ” 

“ Dr. Cadova was absent, and I met this physician acci- 
dentally,” she said in a low voice, giving a quick, half-fright- 
ened glance into Mrs. Gilbert’s face as she spoke. 

“ Well, I suppose he will do as well as any one,” he replied ; 
then turning to his wife, said : “ My dear, what about going 
to the ball ? ” 

“ I do not see how I can leave Miss Moore alone with the 
child,” she faltered. 

“ We will send a servant from the villa to stay with her,” 
he said kindly ; and poor Leah, her heart sore with pain, her 
head aching and bewildered, and her eyes heavy with their 
weight of unshed tears, was led away to attend the evening’s 
festivities, when she was longing for the quiet of the peaceful 
grave to hide her and her sorrows forever from mortal sight. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


J 4S 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

“ Oh, Leah, I cannot give you up ; you little dream of the 
intensity of my love when you require such a sacrifice at my 
hands. You are my first and only love, my lawfully wedded 
wife ; my only hope of happiness lies in being reunited with 
you, my darling.” 

The scene is in the tiny parlor at Palm Cottage. The 
time, ten o’clock the night following the first meeting of Leah 
and Herbert Raymond, after five years of weary separation, 
when each, true to the appointment made on that memorable 
night, met again to discuss a subject which had driven them 
both to the very verge of despair. 

Leah, under the pretense of visiting Miss Moore’s sick 
child, had left her palatial home, with its bright lights and 
elegant appointments, and repaired to the humble cottage to 
meet the man whose failure to keep his vows to her had 
caused her to commit a crime against God and man. 

“ Do not see this man again, Leah,’’ Martha had pleaded 

when Leah appeared at the cottage. “ He has acted a 

villain’s part toward you. You owe him nothing but your 

everlasting hatred. Defy him. Pie cannot harm you. Refuse 

to see or speak to him again, and return home and be happy 

in the love of your noble husband and beautiful little girl.” 
io 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


146 

“ Martha, I have promised to listen to his explanations, 
and this promise I shall keep, regardless of all any one could 
say to dissuade me,” she answered in a decisive manner, as 
she pushed her pleading friend aside and entered the parlor, 
lighted only by a small lamp which cast a dim light over the 
objects in the room. 

She had not long to wait till a footstep, the sound of which 
had once filled her heart with joy, fell upon her listening ear, 
and the next moment Herbert Raymond stood before her. 

He was very pale, and the expression on his symmetrically 
molded features was such as might have been worn by a 
man coming to beg for clemency at the hand of some mighty 
ruler, in behalf of a dear one, upon whom the sentence of 
death had been passed. 

When the door closed and he was alone with the woman 
he loved with all the passion of his intense nature, he reached 
his arms toward her, crying : 

“ Leah, my own beloved ! ” 

But she waved him back with a haughty gesture. 

“ Do not touch me,” she said coldly, “ or utter one word 
of endearment. I have met you as I promised, but I came 
only to hear your pitiful explanation of why you so basely 
deserted me.” 

“ My love, I did not desert you. Believe me, Leah, not 
for the wealth of the whole world, or for the hope of eternal 
happiness in heaven, would I have been guilty of so dastardly 
a wrong against you.” 

He took her cold trembling hands and looked into the 
fair troubled face as he spoke, 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


*47 


She answered him not, but stood looking into his pleading 
eyes, doubtingly. 

“ You are cold and trembling, dear one ; sit down while I 
tell you of the unfortunate accident which separated me from 
you — an accident which almost deprived me of my life. 
Now, after years of weary searching, when I have found you 
only to hear the awful revelation from your own lips that 

V 

you have given yourself to another. I wonder that God in 
His tender mercy spared my life, to have this thousand times 
worse fate than death forced upon me.” 

He seated her upon a sofa as he spoke, and drawing up a 
chair in front of her, seated himself and wiped the cold drops 
of perspiration from his brow. 

“ Our interview may be interrupted at any moment,” she 
said coldly. “ I am ready to hear your explanation.” 

“ Oh, Leah, how can you speak so coldly to me ? ” 

She silenced him with an entreating look, and said : 

“ Remember I came here only to hear an explanation of 
your strange conduct toward me.” 

He looked at her a moment in pained silence. Could this 
queenly woman who sat before him, with that look of haughty 
defiance on her face, be the same loving, confiding girl he 
had wooed and won ? The transformation seemed impos- 
sible. 

“ Will you not proceed ? I have already reminded you that 
our interview must be brief,” she said in a cold tone. 

He clasped his hands with a despairing gesture, and be- 
gan : 

“ Leah, man never loved woman more fondly or devotedly 


148 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


than I loved you, and when, after three weeks of sweet wed- 
ded bliss, I bade you farewell, and tore myself from your 
side, I cursed the circumstances which forced even a brief 
separation upon us. 

“ The next day after my arrival at the home of my parents 
in New York city, while out driving with my father, the 
horses took fright and became unmanageable, and dashing 
madly down Broadway, the carriage was upset, and my father 
and I were thrown violently to the ground. He escaped 
with a broken arm, but I was not so fortunate ; in falling, 
my head struck the pavement with great force. For a few 
moments I was stunned, and then partially recovered con- 
sciousness, after which I sank into a profound stupor. The 
most eminent surgeons were summoned, and, upon examina- 
tion of my case, diagnosed the injury as rupture of a blood- 
vessel in the membranes between the brain and the skull. 
The effusion of blood from its pressure upon the brain had 
produced the stupor which would eventually end in death. 
To the heart-broken appeals of my parents, as to whether 
anything could possibly be done for me, the surgeon in at- 
tendance replied that, until recently, such cases always proved 
fatal, and even now this is the usual result, for comparatively 
few surgeons know of the advances made in the science of 
brain-surgery. 

“ The only hope of saving my life was to trephine the skull 
at the injured point and let out the blood which had been 
extravasated. 

“ ‘ Whether the patient will survive the operation or not, 
I am unablfe to state, but his only chance of recovery lies in 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


149 


this one thing : I advise you to proceed with him to Germany 
at once, and place him under the care of Professor Francius 
Steinman at Elberthal, who is the most celebrated surgeon 
of the age.’ 

“‘To Germany?’ said my father in amazement. ‘Will 
the patient live in his present condition to reach the end 
of this long journey ? ’ 

“ ‘ Oh, yes, in all probability he will survive for weeks in his 
present condition, although he will never recover conscious- 
ness until the operation is successfully performed,’ replied 
the surgeon. 

“ Accordingly, the next day, my unconscious form, watched 
over by my heart-broken parents, was carried on board a 
steamer, which, an hour later was en route to Germany. Upon 
our arrival at Elberthal my case was placed in the hands of 
the scientific surgeon already mentioned, who proceeded to 
trephine the skull at the injured point. As soon as the 
pressure was relieved, I gained consciousness, and, my dar- 
ling, the first thought that flashed through my mind was of 
you. 

“ When I was permitted to converse, I told my parents of 
my secret marriage, and begged of them to send for you at 
once. 

“ They were at first amazed and dumfounded at the revela- 
tion, then the thought came to them that my declaration of 
having made a secret marriage was only a fancy of my disor- 
dered brain. Without my knowledge, they consulted the 
surgeon in regard to the matter, telling him how improbable it 
was that my declaration be true. 

“ He replied that, in all probability, it was a phantasm, 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


* 5 ° 

caused by the injury I had sustained and my subsequent weak- 
ness. He advised them, however, to appear to humor me in 
the whim, and, as I regained strength, the fancy would in all 
probability pass away and be forgotten. 

“ ‘ Have you sent for my precious wife ? ’ I cried in a fever 
of impatience, when my parents again stood by my bedside. 

“ My father dropped his eyes and walked away, but my 
mother patted me lovingly on the cheek, and said in a half 
whisper : 

“‘Yes, dear.’ 

“ ‘ Are you sure you were correct about the address ? ’ I 
further demanded. 

“ ‘ Oh, yes indeed. I wrote it exactly as you gave it to 
us.’ 

“ ‘ And how many days must elapse before she will come to 
me ? ’ was my next eager question. 

“ ‘ I cannot speak positively, my love, but I suppose she 
will arrive within two weeks.’ 

“ ‘ Two weeks ! Two long weeks ! Oh, that the doctor 
could give me something to make me sleep the time away, for 
how can I bear those hours of weary waiting ? ’ 

“ Oh, little did I dream then of the years of weary waiting 
which lay in store for me. 

“ ‘ You must be patient, dear heart,’ my mother said fondly. 
‘ By impatient fretting you will retard your recovery, or, 
perhaps, cause your death. Here, drink this, and when you 
have slept you will feel stronger and more courageous.’ 

“ She held a sleeping potion to my lips, and ere long I sank 
into a deep sleep, to dream of the bliss in store for me when 
my dear one should be restored to my loving arms. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


J5 1 

“ But the days so filled with misery for my impatient spirit 
dragged slowly past and merged into weeks, until 'a month 
had gone by. Still no news came from over the sea that you 
were coming to join me, or that you had even received the 
communications which I had sent you. 

“ I fumed and fretted, and finally raved over the delay till I 
brought on an attack of brain fever, which reduced life to its 
very lowest ebb. 

“ After my physicians and friends had given up all hope of 
my recovery, my vital powers finally asserted themselves, the 
feeble spark of life remaining was fanned into flame, and ere 
long my convalescence was joyfully announced to me. 

“ The news brought me a thrill of pleasure, for, as soon as 
my strength would in the least admit, I intended to start 
home in search of my wife. 

“To my amazement and almost despair, I found that three 
months had elapsed since my unfortunate accident in New 
York city. I tortured myself with questions as to how you 
had stood the long separation, or why you did not reply to 
the many letters which my parents assured me they had 
written you. 

“ Long before my friends considered me able to endure the 
fatigue of a journey I, in company with my parents, was 
journeying homeward. Upon arriving in New r York, I sent a 
telegram to your home-address, informing you of my return, 
but the message was returned with the information that the 
person addressed could not be found. Fearing unutterable 
things I started immediately for your western home. Upon 
my arrival there I found your house closed and deserted. 
Inquiry among the neighbors elicited the facts of Mrs. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


* 5 2 

Mansden’s sudden death and your own removal. Whither 
you had gone no one could inform me, or give me the least 
clew to aid me in my search. 

“ Driven almost to insanity by my failure, I returned to New 
York, and the weary searching for you, my darling, began. 
Everything that wealth could do, or ingenuity suggest, was 
done to discover your whereabouts. Nearly five years the 
search continued. To find you, or in some way learn your 
fate, became the one passion of my life, which absorbed 
every other interest. 

“ During this time my parents died, and up to the time of 
their death they thought the fact, which I declared to be 
true, of my having made a secret marriage, and subsequently 
becoming separated from my wife, and she lost to me in the 
crowded, jostling world, an insane freak, which had no origin 
except in my own brain, which had received such a terrible 
injury in the accident which befell me. But, as I was per- 
fectly sane on all other subjects, they did not seek to restrain 
me, and humored me in what they thought a whim. God 
only knows what kept me from becoming the madman they 
thought me, for during all those years of torturing anxiety 
not one thing occurred to bring hope to my broken heart 
until I came suddenly face to face with you in this old 
southern town. 

“ And now, ah, God ! The pity of it all. You dash the 
ecstatic joy which illumined the dismal recesses of my tor- 
tured heart, after having found you at last, by informing me 
that you have wedded another. Oh ! Leah, tell me, for 
Christ’s sake, how I shall endure this and not do some awful 
deed ? ” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


*53 


His face was pale as death, with every feature set with the 
intensity of anguish that swept in despairing waves over his 
heart. 

The woman who sat before him in stony silence during his 
astonishing recital, as though she were listening to a sentence 
which doomed her to everlasting woe, approached his side 
hurriedly, and drew his head to her breast. 

“ Herbert,” she wailed, “ why did I ever let you leave me, 
or why were not my eyes closed in death before this meet- 
ing, which, ah, just Heaven ! has come too late?” 

“ If you had only remained true to me, my beloved, as I 
have been to you. Oh ! the joy of this meeting which never 
could have come too late,” he replied, in a voice in which 
love and reproach were strangely mingled. “ Why did you 
wed another? I never could have been so disloyal to you, 
even had I known you were dead or false to me.” 

“ Herbert,” she cried, “ do not reproach me in this, my 
supreme hour of anguish. You little dream of the suffering 
I endured before I yielded to the temptation which beset me. 
Homeless, penniless, friendless, and, more than all, 
thinking you either dead or false, is it to be wondered at 
that, when the love and protection of an honorable and 
wealthy man were offered me, I yielded to the tempta- 
tion and became his wife ? I am only human ; and, oh, 
Herbert ! the pangs and loneliness of poverty are hard to 
bear. Little do you know, you who have always been blessed 
with plenty of friends and abundance of wealth, how hard it 
is for a weak, friendless woman, thrown upon her own re- 
sources, to fight a hand-to-hand battle with poverty and never 
yield to temptation.” 


*54 


HER SHADOWED LIEE. 


She passed her trembling hand across his throbbing brow 
and held his head close to her aching heart as she spoke, 
while her hot tears fell in a heavy shower upon his dark, 
clustering curls. 

“This must be our last meeting, my love,” she said in a 
choking voice ; “ but ere we part, you must, in face of all the 
extenuating circumstances which appear in my behalf, say 
that you forgive me.” 

He put his arm around her and drew her to him, holding 
her firmly to his loudly beating heart, as though he defied the 
whole world to take her from him. 

“ Nay, my darling,” he said, as she struggled to free her- 
self, rest so, if it is only for the few moments it will take you 
to tell me where you have been hiding all these years that 
marked the days of my fruitless search for you. Leah, beloved, 
rest your head on my breast while you tell me. God in 
heaven knows that this is its rightful resting-place, what- 
ever man may say to the contrary.” 

Passively she yielded to his passionate entreaty, as if she 
were too overwhelmed with her burden of woe to resist him. 

In a broken voice and between her sobs she told him all 
that had transpired in her life since she had parted from 
him, — told him of the birth of their child and her temptation 
to pass herself as an unmarried woman, and as such, yielded 
to the temptation to marry Mr. Gilbert, who had not the 
slightest suspicion of her former marriage, or the birth of her 
child. She did not seek to spare herself, but laid her whole 
soul bare before him in all its weakness, sorrow, and sin. 

The conflicting emotions which surged through the man’s 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


J 55 

heart, as he listened to the confession, would be impossible 
for any pen to describe. 

Amazement, indignation, sorrow, and love held high car- 
nival in the heart that, before hearing this confession, would 
have sworn that, though the sun should forget to rise, the 
moon turn to blood, and the stars wander from their courses, 
and all nature become a chaotic mass, still would this woman, 
this love of his youth, whose image he had set upon a 
pedestal to worship as the embodiment of all that is beauti- 
ful in truth, love, innocence, and loyalty, be true to every 
God-given instinct with which Heaven has endowed woman. 
He looked back upon his weary, harassing search for her, 
with the feeling that they contained naught but days of bliss 
compared to this hour of heart-sickening sorrow, when the 
terrible fact was forced upon him that his idol was merely 
clay. That, having been weighed in the balance, this creature, 
whom he thought but little lower than the angels in heaven, 
had been found wofully, ah ! so wofully wanting, as to 
deny her first love, and even repudiate her own child, for 
gold and a life of luxurious ease. 

The silence which had fallen between them after Leah 
had ceased speaking, and which had continued for several 
moments, was at last broken by the unhappy woman, who 
raised her head and looked into the man’s face with its white 
set lips, and said piteously : 

“ Herbert, will you not say that you forgive me ? ” 

“ Leah,” he said, “ you have suffered, this I know, but the 
question of forgiveness for the sin you have committed lies 
between you and your God. I will not reproach you. We 


156 HER SHADOWED LIFE. 

are both the victims of as unfortunate a circumstance as ever 
harassed the human soul. I will go and leave you in peace, 
but only on one condition, — and that is, that you relinquish 
all rights to my child and give him wholly into my care.'’ 

She sprang to her feet, and stood facing him with defiance 
flashing from her eyes. 

“ Have no fear,” he said soothingly ; “ the child’s well-being 
shall now become the one thought of my life. I shall not 
betray you. You say the child is known as a motherless one, 
which was placed by its father in Miss Moore’s keeping. 
That father has now come, as he has a perfect right, to claim 
his own. This circumstance will elicit no inquiry, and but 
little comment, so you need have no fears of being exposed to 
harm.” 

“ Oh, Herbert ! My God ! What greater harm could 
overtake me than to be compelled to give up my child ? The 
little boy sent me by Heaven, when I was alone and friend- 
less, and thought myself a deserted wife. It was only the 
touch of his soft baby fingers, the light of his innocent smile, 
the sound of his cooing voice, that saved me from a suicide’s 
grave. “ How can I give him up ? You little dream of the 
blessing he has been to me.” 

“ Still, to the world you denied him, and as the circum- 
stances are, must ever disown him,” he said in tones of con- 
centrated bitterness. 

She covered her face with her hands and burst into tem- 
pestuous weeping and smothered lamentations. 

The man did not touch her or utter one comforting word. 

“ I am going to the sick child’s room, Leah,” he said at 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


*57 


length, “ and I hope, ere I return, you will have regained your 
calmness.” 

He started toward the door, but she sprang after him, cry- 
ing wildly : 

“ You will not take my boy, Herbert ! your heart will not 
permit you to be so cruel after all I have suffered ! ” 

“ There is only one way in which you may retain the child 
in your keeping, and that is to go with him and me,” he said 
with deep significance. 

She sank back on the sofa with a groan pitiful to hear, as 
he left the room and softly closed the door. 

When he entered the room where Martha watched by the 
bedside of the sick child, he found the little fellow propped 
up with pillows, and, although quite pale, he was bright and 
smiling. 

Little Herbert laid dovm the toy with which he had been 
amusing himself, and placed his tiny hand confidingly in 
that of Dr. Raymond, who felt the pulse in the small wrist, 
and looked lovingly into the clear blue eyes of the child 
raised innocently to his own. At length he laid down the 
child’s hand, and turning to Miss Moore, said : 

“ Martha, you, of course, know who I am, and I will take 
this opportunity to tell you that, by the words you uttered to 
me last night, I am aware that you blame me for all the 
trouble that has fallen to Leah’s lot to bear.” 

“ How could I do otherwise, knowing as I do all the cir- 
cumstances in the case ? ” replied Martha grimly. 

“ But you are mistaken,” he said kindly, “ when you sur- 
mise that you know all the circumstances; for the most 


L 5& 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


important ones, and those which change the whole nature 
of this unhappy affair, are wholly unknown to you.” 

“ Martha,” — suddenly, — “ as you were my friend in the 
dear old days, — the like of which will never be known to me 
again in my life — will you go down to the parlor and ask 
Leah, who is still there, to acquaint you with the fatal cir- 
cumstances which have wrecked the happiness of two lives ? ” 
She darted an anxious look toward the occupant of the 
cradle, who had returned to his toys, and said apprehensively : 
“ Leave him alone with you ? The child is not used to 
strangers and may be frightened.” 

“ Have no fears for him,” replied Dr. Raymond, and the 
eyes which held Martha’s own for one brief moment flashed 
with a determined light. “ I will see that no harm comes to 
my child. I am his father, and fully capable of taking care 
of him now as well as in the future.” 

“ What do you mean ? ” she gasped with ashen lips. 

“ I mean that I wish to be left alone for a few moments 
with my child,” he answered sternly. 

“ But you will not harm him ? ” she cried. 

“ Am I a monster that I would harm my own flesh and 
blood ? ” he replied. 

“You will not take him from me ? ” she cried pitifully. 

“ Go in peace. When you return you will find the child 
here safe and unharmed.” 

He motioned the woman away impatiently, and when she 
had left the room, closed the door and turned the key softly 
in the lock, realizing, with a thrill of joy that stirred his sore 
heart, that he was alone with his own child. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


1 S9 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

Scarcely had Martha’s feet touched the lower landing, 
when the door-bell was rung with a quick impatient hand. 

Pausing a moment to press her hand to her loudly beating 
heart in an effort to calm her agitation, she opened the door, 
and Mr. Gilbert stood before her. 

“ Good-evening, Miss Moore,” he said kindly, and then 
noting her pale face in the dim light of the hall lamp, 
added with much concern : “ I trust the little boy has not 

grown worse ? ” 

“ Oh, no, thank you, Mr. Gilbert, the child’s condition is 
very much improved ; indeed, he is almost well,” she replied 
quickly. 

“ I am pleased to hear you say this ; but, Miss Moore, is 
my wife here ? The servants could not tell me where she 
had gone, but I surmised she had come to see little Herbert, 
She was so alarmed about his condition last night that she 
was obliged to retire from the ball at an early hour, and has 
looked pale and troubled all day.” 

“ Leah has such a warm, sympathetic heart,” Martha re- 
plied nervously, and then added quickly : “ But please walk 
in, Mr. Gilbert, and I will inform your wife that you have 
called for her.” 


i6o 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ She is here then ? I was right in my surmise/’ he said, 
as he followed Martha into the small sitting-room, on the 
left of the hall. 

After he was seated, Martha left the room, and going into 
the parlor, closed and locked the door behind her. 

She found the banker’s wife crouched down upon the floor, 
with her face hidden in the sofa cushions. 

“ Leah, for God’s sake, get up,” she entreated in a low 
voice, “ and try to calm yourself. Mr. Gilbert has called 
for you. I have told him that Herbert is out of danger ; and 
how will you account for your condition, if you cannot con- 
ceal it ? ” 

“ Oh, Martha, Martha ! ” the young wife exclaimed in a 
voice of agony. “ Herbert Raymond will take my boy away 
from me. Tell me how I can bear it, and give no sign that 
my heart is broken ! ” 

“ Hush, hush ! for Heaven’s sake,” implored Martha, as 
she lifted the unhappy lady to her feet. “ Nothing but cour- 
age and calmness will now save you from ruin and disgrace.” 

She half led, half carried Leah’s almost fainting form into 
an adjoining chamber, and bathed the pale face, and smoothed 
down the disordered hair, imploring her, with every breath, 
to be calm before her husband’s eyes fell upon her. 

Martha’s strong, positive nature finally had the desired 
effect upon that of the weaker one, and ere long Mrs. Gil- 
bert joined the banker in the sitting-room. 

“ Little Runaway,” he said affectionately, when she 
stood before him, “ why did you not leave word for me at 
home where you were going ? ” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


161 


“ I did not intend to be absent long, ” she said, trying with 
all the power she possessed to repress the agitation of her 
manner, “ andthought I should return before yo u came home.” 

“ Well, darling, if you are ready, get your wrappings and 
we will go at once. She hastened away, thankful for an 
opportunity to turn from his searching gaze, and going into 
the deserted parlor, gathered up her hat and mantle from 
where she had carelessly thrown them upon a chair, and a 
few minutes later was seated with Mr. Gilbert in the carriage 
on the way to Myrtle Villa. Upon their arrival home they 
found several guests, from their list of aristocratic friends, 
who had, with the pleasant informality practiced in this fair 
southern town, dropped in to spend an hour or two with the 
banker and his charming wife. The guests were all in exuber- 
ant spirits; and no better illustration of the power of mind 
over matter was ever displayed than was shown in the con- 
duct of the charming hostess, who, bravely crushing her own 
heart-breaking sorrow into a remote background of her grief- 
laden soul, entered with seeming spirit into the gayety of her 
guests. It is pitiful how the poor human lips will sometimes 
smile with the semblance of joy, and the voice send out 
dulcet tones of happiness, when beneath all, unseen by only 
God and the pitying angels, lies a heart so beset and 
lacerated by the demons of woe and unrest, that the wonder 
of it is, how the anguish can be borne and still be hidden 
from earthly eyes. 

Only to Mr. Gilbert was the shadow visible, which, during 
some pause in the conversation, flitted into his wife’s lovely 
eyes. 


ii 


162 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


This shadow he had always noted ever since he had first 
formed her acquaintance. It had puzzled him sorely to ac- 
count for it, but, finding it impossible to trace its origin, he 
had concluded that it must have been inherited. 

If he noticed that the shadow lay deeper to-night, he attrib- 
uted it to the fact of her last night’s vigils and anxiety con- 
cerning the sick child at Palm Cottage. 

The next morning, soon after Mr. Gilbert left home for his 
office, a timid knock fell upon Mrs. Gilbert’s door. When 
opened by the lady herself Martha stood on the threshold. 
She entered quickly, and when the door was closed, asked 
in a low voice, “ Leah, are you alone ? ” 

“ Yes,” was the answer almost in a whisper ; “ what news 
have you brought me ? ” 

“This letter,” and she drew a sealed missive from the 
pocket of her dress, and put it into the trembling hand of 
the banker’s wife. 

Leah clutched it eagerly, and when she glanced at the 
address her pale face grew scarlet, for she recognized the 
writing as that of the man she had loved and secretly 
wedded in her girlhood, a letter from whom once had 
the power to transport her to a heaven of bliss, but now 
made her tremble and grow faint at the danger which 
menaced her. 

“ Does it require an answer ? ” she whispered. 

“ Not at present,” was the reply, “ but you will know 
when the answer is expected after you have read it.” 

Leah hid the letter in the bosom of her elegant morning 
robe. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 163 

“ How is the baby this morning ? ” she asked eagerly, using 
the pet name she usually applied to her first-born. 

“ He is very bright, and all sign of his recent illness is 
rapidly disappearing. Dr. Raymond called as usual this 
morning, and after turning me out of the room as he did last 
night, spent more than an hour alone with the boy. Then 
leaving the little fellow — whose childish heart he has com- 
pletely won — asleep, he came into the sitting-room where 
I was sewing, and told me about the unfortunate circum- 
stances which befell him.” 

Mrs. Gilbert raised her finger warningly, and Martha, drop- 
ping her voice still lower, continued : 

“ Oh, Leah, it was a terrible misfortune ; he was not in the 
least to blame,” 

Again Leah silenced her with a warning gesture. 

“ Say no more about it, Martha,” she entreated, “ until I come 
to you at the cottage ; the very walls in this house have ears.” 

“ When will you come ? ” 

“ This afternoon,” was the reply, and Martha silently left 
the room, flitted down the broad staircase with its elaborately 
carved balustrade, and out of the house like a dark shadow. 

When Leah found herself alone, she carefully locked the 
door, and with trembling fingers drew the letter from her 
bosom, and breaking the seal, read : 

“ Meet me at Palm Cottage at three o’clock this afternoon. 
Fear not. I shall go there ostensibly to visit the sick child. 


“ H. R.” 


164 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


Mrs. Gilbert tore the brief note into tiny atoms, and threw 
it with its envelope into the open grate, and even then took 
the precaution to kneel down and apply a lighted match to 
the fragments, watching them as they dissolved into feathery 
ashes and dropped into the ash-pan below. 

“ My dear,” said the banker, as his wife and himself sat at 
their elegant luncheon, at two o’clock that afternoon, “ I 
trust you have no engagement for this afternoon, as I have 
promised a party of friends, who are stopping for a short time 
in the city, that we would drive with them to Fort Marion.” 

“ I am sorry to say that I shall be engaged from three 
o’clock until four this afternoon,” she answered, without lift- 
ing her eyes. 

“ Are you expecting company ? ” he inquired. 

“ No,” she answered briefly. 

“ Are you going out, or do you expect to spend this hour 
in the nursery with those precious babies of ours, whom you 
will persist in allowing to consume so much of your time ? ” 

“ I am going out,” she said, raising her eyes to his quickly, 
but blushing in spite of herself. 

“ Why, you are blushing ! ” he laughed. “Now I must 
carry my impertinent questions further and find out where you 
are going, or I shall be growing jealous.” 

“ You have no cause to be jealous,” she said, trying to 
smile back at him, “ for I am only going to Palm Cottage 
for an hour.” 

He arose from the table laughing. 

“Little Humbug,” he said, as they were leaving the lunch- 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


l6 5 

eon room ; “ only going to sit awhile with Miss Moore and 
little Herbie, and you made such a mystery of it that my 
curiosity was thoroughly aroused.” 

“ Did I make a mystery of my engagement ? ” she asked 
lightly. “ I did not intend to do so.” 

“ Well, somehow you acted oddly about it ; you would not 
look at me for several minutes, and then blushed vividly, 
when you announced your intention of going out,” and he 
looked at her keenly. “ But perhaps you were only trying to 
practice some of your old girlish wiles upon me, as you did in 
the days of our courtship.” 

She breathed a sigh of relief, for at this stage in the light 
conversation they had reached the parlor door, and the 
banker, excusing himself on the plea of business, kissed his 
wife and left the house. Truly, “conscience doth make 
cowards of us all.” 


1 66 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

“ The child is all that is left to me to make life endurable. 
But for his existence, Leah, God only knows how I could 
gain courage to assert my manhood and not become a piti- 
ful wreck, driven to despair by disappointed hopes and your 
unfaithfulness. But for the secrecy you preserved in regard- 
to your past life when you married Mr. Gilbert, and for the 
birth of your unfortunate little daughter, I should claim you 
before the whole world as my own lawfully wedded wife, 
from whom I had become separated by the most cruel mis- 
chance that ever wrecked a man’s earthly happiness, and 

o 

you, yourself, should choose between Mr. Gilbert and myself. 
But in pity for you, for your husband, and your innocent 
babe, who now bears the banker’s name, I will go my lonely 
way and leave you in peace ; but this I will do, as I have 
already said, only upon one condition.” 

The speaker was Dr. Herbert Raymond, the person ad- 
dressed the unhappy mistress of Myrtle Villa, who had 
met Dr. Raymond at Palm Cottage according to the appoint 
ment made in the brief note she had received from him in 
the morning. She sat before him, pale and limp ; so over- 
shadowed by despair, that she could only answer his words 
with a smothered groan. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


167 


“ Remember, Leah,” he continued more gently, his heart 
moved to a mighty pity at the sight of her distress, “ that it 
is within your power to accompany the child and follow me 
and become my dearly beloved wife in the eyes of the world, 
as you are now in the eyes of God, regardless of any earthly 
barrier that has for a time separated us.” 

“ Publish my disgrace to the world, bring dishonor on the 
proud name of the noble man who has been my protector, 
break his loyal heart, and doom his innocent child and mine 
to a fate far worse than death ! What a terrible alternative 
you would suggest ! ” 

She spoke with wonderful calmness and looked at the 
tempter with dry eyes, the sparkle of which suggested how 
very near to the verge of insanity the woman had been 
driven. 

“ Then you love this man and his child better than you 
love my child and his father ? Oh, the instability of the 
heart of woman ! ” 

“ Herbert, I love my good name next to my God. 
All other earthly love sinks into insignificance when com- 
pared with this, the ruling passion of my life,” she said 
solemnly. 

“ And God curse me if ever I do aught to sully the fair 
name of the woman I love,” he said reverently, and making 
the sign of the cross as he spoke. 

She bowed her head with a devout gesture, and her lips 
moved as if in silent prayer. 

“ But you will give me the boy, Leah ? ” he pleaded at 
length in a low voice, rendered almost inaudible by emotion. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


1 68 

“ God help me to endure the awful pain of the sacrifice ! 
Herbert, I will give you the child.” 

Their hands met in a lingering clasp, and the compact be- 
tween the unhappy pair was sealed. Then he told her of 
his plans for his son. He would take him to his elegant 
home in New York, now only presided over by his house- 
keeper. The child’s happiness and well-being would be- 
come the study of his life. When the child grew old enough, 
he would tell him of his mother, of whom God had deprived 
him while still in his babyhood. The picture of that mother 
should be presented to the child’s mind, drawn from the 
beautiful ideal his father had worshiped before misfortune, 
with its destroying hand, had separated him from his inno- 
cent young wife ; before the rude hand of poverty and rough 
contact with the world had tempted that young wife to repu- 
diate her early marriage vows, and prove disloyal to the 
holy crown of motherhood. 

The sound of tiny pattering feet was heard in the hall, and 
soon baby hands were pounding for admission upon the 
panel of the parlor door, while a sweet voice floated to the 
ears of Herbert Raymond and the banker’s wife, saying : 

“ Sister, sister, open the door, p’ease open the door. Her- 
bie wants to tome in and see you.” 

With trembling hands Leah unlocked and opened the 
door, and clasping the child to h&r breaking heart, burst into 
a passion of tears and sobs. 

“ Sister, sister, don’t c’y,” cried the distressed child, try- 
ing to wipe her thickly falling tears away with his tiny 
hand. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


169 


“ Darling,” she sobbed, holding the boy away from her 
heart that she might better look into his beautiful face, “ do 
not call me sister ; say ‘mother’ — say it just once, my dar- 
ling, so that I may hear the holy name spoken by your sweet 
lips before we part forever.” 

The child looked at her in silent, frightened amazement. 

“ Herbie,” she persisted, “ will you not say ‘ mother ’ ? — say 
‘ mother ’ just once, my darling,” she pleaded passionately. 

“ Muver, muver,” repeated the frightened child. 

“ God bless you for the word,” she cried. “ Now, put 
your little arms around my neck and say : ‘ I will always 
love you, mother.’ ” 

He clasped his tiny arms around her neck obediently, and 
said : “ Me will always love you, muver.” 

For a moment she held him in silent, passionate embrace, 
and then walking to Herbert Raymond’s side, placed the 
child in his arms. 

“Take him, Herbert, he is yours, and God deal with you 
as you deal with this precious charge.” 

“ Amen,” the man murmured reverently, as he clasped the 
child to his heart. 

Then, without another word, Leah turned and fled from the 
room. Up the stairs she went like some wounded, frightened 
creature, half-mad with pain, and entering the child's nursery, 
she locked the door and threw herself face downward upon 
the floor, and, groveling there, gave full sway to her anguish. 

How long she lay there she never knew. By and by the 
storm within her breast sobbed itself to rest, and ministering 
angels whispered to her breaking heart that God had ac- 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


170 

cepted the sacrifice at her hands in atonement for the sin she 
had committed. 

Feeling strangely comforted, she arose and bathed her 
heated face and adjusted her disordered dress. 

“Leah, Leah,” whispered the distressed voice of Martha 
through the closed door, “ Mr. Gilbert has called for you 
with the carriage. He is waiting at the door. Will you see 
him ? ” 

“ Yes, bring me my hat and wrappings.” 

When the things were brought to her she went to the mir- 
ror and pinned on her hat with trembling fingers, and tied a 
veil closely over her pale face. Then throwing on her mantle 
and drawing on her gloves, she left the room with a won- 
drously firm step, and soon stood face to face with Mr. Gil- 
bert, who was waiting her coming at the hall door. She 
glanced apprehensively toward the parlor as she passed, but 
the door was closed, the room silent, and she saw no one 
about the house. 

“ It is only five o’clock, Leah,” was the banker’s greeting 
“and we shall still have time to drive to Fort Marion before 
dark, if you will go, for our friends will be disappointed if we 
do not join them.” 

“ Certainly I will go,” she said pleasantly, “ and I regret 
having kept you and them waiting so long.” 

He helped her tenderly into the carriage, and they drove 
away through the sparkling, level, western sunbeams of the 
winter afternoon. 

She made an almost superhuman effort to appear as usual 
in her husband’s eyes ; but the eyes of love and devotion 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


171 

are very keen-sighted, and ere long he startled her by saying : 
“ Leah, you look as though you had been weeping. What 
has happened to disturb you, my love ? ” 

She laughed lightly : “ Women fall into a lachrymose state 
very easily, my dear,” she said, “ and it is not worth while to 
always inquire into the cause of their tears ; for those tears, 
more frequently than otherwise, flow for a very trivial 
matter.” 

“ But I cannot imagine what could happen at Palm Cot- 
tage to cause you the least distress,” he said, still uncon- 
vinced by her argument. 

She blushed a vivid scarlet, bit her full under-lip, and 
laughed lightly as she said : 

“ Miss Moore has been indulging in some reminiscences 
concerning her youth, which were very pathetic. She wept, 
and, of course, I needs must weep to keep her company.” 

“ Tender-hearted child,” he said, patting her gloved hand 
fondly, and appearing to be satisfied with her explanation ; 
and then added thoughtfully : “ If there is any unhappy 
influence brought to bear upon you at Palm Cottage, I shall 
insist upon your absenting yourself from there entirely.” 

To Leah’s intense joy, as the banker made this remark, 
the spirited team rounded up to the house where the lady 
resided who was to join them in their drive, and the con- 
versation was changed into another channel. 


172 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

The party reached the massive, picturesque fort, and 
ascended the steps leading to its smoothly cemented parapet. 
The members of the party, except Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert, all 
being strangers at the fort, were soon deep in contemplating 
this magnificent specimen of mediaeval fortification, with its 
bastions, moats, and outworks, while the banker and his 
wife, familiar with these scenes, promenaded arm in arm, 
enjoying the refreshing ocean breezes, as their eyes wandered 
from the calm blue waters of the bay to the magnificent line 
of white-capped breakers which appeared in the distance. 

Suddenly they came face to face with the tall form of a 
young man walking slowly, his head lowered as if in earnest 
thought. The stranger suddenly stopped, lifted his head, 
and, in passing, raised his hat, while a deep flush mantled his 
pale face. 

“Where have I seen that man ?” said Mr. Gilbert, as the 
distance widened between them and the stranger. “ Oh, I 
remember,” he continued, as memory asserted itself. “ It is 
the young physician whom we met at Palm Cottage.” 

Mrs. Gilbert made no answer, but her husband felt her 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


*73 


grasp upon his arm tighten and then suddenly relax. Her 
footsteps staggered a few paces, and then Mr. Gilbert turned 
his inquiring gaze upon her just in time to catch her fainting 
form in his arms. Attracted by the scene, the rest of the 
party hastened to the distressed husband’s side. 

“ My wife has fainted,” he exclaimed in great alarm. 
“ Call the man who is descending the steps. He is a 
physician.” 

A gentleman ran to do his bidding, and soon returned 
bringing the physician with him. 

“ Place the lady in a recumbent position and loosen her 
clothing,” the doctor ordered with professional coolness. He 
then took a glass of water from the hands of the sergeant, 
who, having heard the commotion, approached, bringing the 
desired fluid, and, kneeling down, bathed her unconscious 
face in its refreshing coolness. The deathly pallor of Mr. 
Gilbert’s countenance was rivaled in whiteness by the color 
of the strange physician’s face as he proceeded with his 
efforts to restore animation to the unconscious form. Even 
the frightened husband kneeling on the opposite side chafing 
his wife’s cold hands between his own, noted the man’s pale- 
ness, and cried out in alarm : 

“ My God, doctor, is my wife dead ? ” 

“ Oh, no, she will soon revive,” he answered in a voice 
that belied his hopeful words. He took a small medicine 
case from his pocket as he spoke, and, selecting a tiny bottle 
therefrom, passed his arm under Mre. Gilbert’s head, and 
forced a few drops of the liquid between her blue lips, then 
resumed his kneeling position beside the inanimate form. 


x 74 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


Soon the tightly closed lips relaxed, and a long-drawn sigh 
fluttered from between them. The violet eyes opened 
and looked with a bewildered stare into the physician’s face. 

“ Herbert,” she murmured, and the man shrank back, 
started to his feet, and retreated a few steps from the pros- 
trate form. 

“Thank Heaven, she is reviving. What did you say, my 
darling ? ” and Mr. Gilbert’s anxious face came within his 
wife’s vision. 

“ What has happened to me?” she asked in a frightened 
tone, as she tried to rise to a sitting posture. 

“You fainted as we were walking on the parapet. It 
must have been caused from over-exertion. Don’t you 
think so, doctor ? ” and Mr. Gilbert turned his face away 
from his wife in the direction where the physician had been 
standing. He was not there, but on the opposite side 
leaning against the wall, and looking intently toward Anas- 
tatia Island, as though in deep contemplation of its beauty. 

“ Shall I call the physician back to you, Leah ? ” asked 
her husband. “ I am surprised at him leaving you so 
abruptly.” 

“ No, do not call him, please,” she answered with white 
lips. “ Only help me to rise and we will go home.” 

“ Are you sure you are able to walk to the carriage ? ” he 
asked, as he lifted his wife tenderly in his arms. 

She assured him that she was much better, and a lady of 
the party brought her hat, while another smoothed back 
her damp, waving hair and readjusted her clothing. 

Mr. Gilbert half carried her to the carriage, which stood 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


*75 

drawn up at the entrance, and when he had placed her ten- 
derly therein, said • 

“ Lean against Mrs. Dunham a moment, dear, while I go 
back and speak to the physician.” 

Mrs. Dunham, who had driven with them to the fort, 
placed her arm around Leah, who leaned her head against 
the lady’s shoulder and closed her eyes, while the banker 
hurriedly entered the fort, ascended the stairs, and soon 
stood beside Dr. Raymond. 

“ I am deeply indebted to you for your kindness, Dr. I 

beg your pardon, I have forgotten your name.” 

“ Raymond,” said the other, without turning his eyes from 
the shining waters of the bay. 

“ I do not know what we should have done,” continued 
Mr. Gilbert, “ but for your opportune presence.” 

“ I could not do much for the lady’s relief,” the other said, 
deprecatingly. “ I trust she has quite recovered.” 

a She is much better, thank you,” replied the banker. 
“ What do you think of her sudden attack, Dr. Raymond ? I 
hope it is not an indication of weak heart.” 

“ I am not able to speak positively in regard to the lady’s 
condition, as I have not given her a careful examination. I 
trust, however, and am inclined to think, that her fainting 
attack was due to some trivial cause,” the physician said. 

“ Thank you,” responded Mr. Gilbert, relieved at the hope- 
ful view Dr. Raymond was disposed to take of the case. 

Mr. Gilbert drew a card from his pocket with his office ad- 
dress upon it as he spoke, and presenting it to the physician, 
said : 


176 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


“ I trust you will find it convenient to call upon me during 
your stay in the city.” 

“ Thank you,” the young stranger replied. “ I should take 
pleasure in doing so, but I shall return to New York to- 
morrow.” 

“Well, I hope I may see you again, at any rate,” the kind- 
hearted banker replied, as he shook hands with his new ac- 
quaintance and bade him good-bye.” 

He hastened away and joined his wife and Mrs. Dunham. 
Mrs. Gilbert had been very nervous during his brief re- 
turn to the fort, and as he reached the side of the carriage 
Mrs. Dunham said anxiously : 

“ Mrs. Gilbert’s hands are very hot, and her eyes look un- 
natural. I fear she is threatened with fever.” 

The lady removed to the opposite seat as she spoke, and 
Mr. Gilbert gave the order to be driven home ; then taking 
his place beside his wife, put his arm tenderly around her, 
and drew her head to his shoulder. 

As the carriage passed Palm Cottage, little Herbert, who 
was playing in the front yard, ran and peeped out through 
the white bars of the gate at the passing vehicle. No one in 
the carriage noticed the child except Mrs. Gilbert, and the 
sight of her innocent boy, from whom she would soon be 
parted forever, sent a pang through her heart and further 
blanched her already pale cheeks, until Mrs. Dunham, who 
had been regarding her friend’s face with anxiety, thinking 
she was again upon the point of swooning, quickly offered 
her smelling-salts. When the carriage arrived at Myrtle 
Villa, Mrs. Gilbert was put to bed and Dr. Cadova sent for. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


X 

T 77 

“Nervous prostration,” was the old physician’s verdict. 

“ Rest and perfect quiet for a few days, with something to 
strengthen the nervous system, will set her all right again,” 
He said cheerfully. 

So Leah was doomed to a darkened room and shut away 
from the presence of all except her physician, nurse, and 
attentive husband. Even Martha Moore was denied ad- 
mittance to the sick-room. 

“ Dr. Cadova, would it do Mrs. Gilbert any harm, to see 
her babe for a few minutes each day ? ” Mr. Gilbert in- 
quired of the physician, whom he had intercepted in the hall 
on his way out after making his usual morning call several 
days after Mrs. Gilbert’s prostration. 

Dr. Cadova considered the question a moment and said : 

“ I think it is best not to permit the child to be brought 
into the room for a few days yet, at least. Has Mrs. Gilbert 
requested its presence ? ” 

“ No,” returned the banker. “ In her sleep, however, she 
often mutters uneasily something about the babe. This 
morning she started up from a deep sleep, crying implor- 
ingly. Have mercy, and do not take my child from me ! ” 
She trembled as if she were about to fall into a convulsion. 
When I assured her that her babe was safe with its nurse, in 
the nursery, she tried to calm herself, but fell into a fit of 
bitter weeping, which distressed me very much to witness, 
and made me think that her mind was not at rest in regard 
to the child’s well-being.” 

“ She is very weak, and the least excitement might 

bring on a return of fever. So, unless she requests it, 

12 


178 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


do not bring the child into the room,” replied the 
physician. 

It was three weeks after Mrs. Gilbert’s fainting fit on the 
parapet of Fort Marion before Martha Moore was admitted 
to the lady’s sick-room. She was now able to sit up, but 
Martha found her pale and exhausted from her recent illness. 

“ Theresa, you may go for a walk while Miss Moore is 
with me. You are looking quite pale from your long con- 
finement in the sick-room,” the banker’s wife said kindly to 
her maid after Miss Moore was seated. 

“ Thank you, Madam,” and the maid hastened away, glad 
to escape into the bright sunshine and fresh air. Miss 
Moore followed the maid to the door and locked it after her. 

“ Oh, Martha, come close to my side, and tell me of my 
boy,” Leah cried in smothered tones of anxiety, as the 
sound of the maid’s footsteps died away. 

“ Martha drew Leah’s head tenderly to her bosom, as her 
hot tears splashed down on the sunny hair. 

“ Can you bear the heart-breaking news I have to tell you ? 
Herbert Raymond has taken our baby away with him.” 

With a smothered cry of agony, the young mother buried 
her face in her hands and rocked her body to and fro in 
anguish. 

“ My heart is broken, and my life’s happiness forever 
wrecked. Oh, Martha ; had I taken your advice, I should 
have been spared this wretched fate. How can I live and 
know that my blessed boy still lives, and I, his mother, have 
no part in his life ? ” 

She took her hands from her bloodless face and wrung 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


*79 

them together in despair, as she looked into the distressed 
face of her confidante. 

“ My darling,” the woman said, with a hopeless attempt at 
consolation, “ perhaps it is best that the child has been 
taken out of your life. As the circumstances are, you could 
never have made yourself known to him as his mother, I 
could give no explanation of his parentage, and an undue 
fondness for him on your part would in time have surely ex- 
cited suspicion in Mr. Gilbert’s mind, and perhaps in the 
minds of others. Let the knowledge that the child’s interests 
are in good hands, and that his father is able and willing to 
give him every advantage that wealth can command com- 
fort you in your separation from him.” 

“ My son will never know his mother,” wailed Leah, dis- 
consolately. 

“ Neither would he, had he remained unclaimed by his 
father,” Martha answered. 

“ Oh, that I had remained true to my convictions of right, 
and never yielded to the temptations that beset me ! How 
can I continue to smile and pretend to be happy, when my 
heart is broken ? ” and the conscience-stricken young mother 
burst into a flood of tears. 

Never once did Martha say, “ Had you been patient, and 
heeded my advice, you would have escaped this awful sor- 
row.” She only wiped Leah’s tears away, and sought to 
console and strengthen the suffering woman. 

“ You will give up Palm Cottage and come and make 
your home with me always, dear Martha ? ” Leah pleaded at 
length. 


i8o 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ I shall give up Palm Cottage,” Martha answered in a 
broken tone, because I can endure life there no longer, since 
I have been deprived of my nursling, whose presence made 
the only sunbeam in my life. But, Leah, — forgive me, child, 
I must say it — neither can I come to reside at Myrtle Villa 
for the daily sight of my face would keep your wounds open 
and bleeding. Dr. Raymond gave me seven thousand dollars 
upon the eve of his departure with little Herbert, and his 
generosity has placed me above want. If you will give your 
consent, I will return to our old western home, so long closed 
and deserted ; there, within its peaceful, cloister-like walls I 
shall find rest for my declining years.” 

“ How can I give you up, Martha ? ” cried Leah. “ Every 
vestige of my past life, up to the time I came to this city 
will disappear with you, except the ever-lingering shadow 
cast upon my pathway by my own misdeeds.” 

“ It is better that I should go, darling, and in time the 
shadow, too, will flee,” Martha said soothingly. 

Thus the life-lines of the two women, which had so long 
run parallel diverged for many years. 

Shortly after Martha left the room, Mr. Gilbert came 
in leading little Ruth, whose eyes were red and swollen 
from weeping. When the child caught sight of her young 
stepmother, whom she loved with childish devotion, 
she rushed to her side, and between her sobs said pit- 
eously : 

“ Oh, mamma, a man came and took my Herbie away on 
the big steamer, and he will never bring him back.” 

Mrs. Gilbert took the little girl in her loving arms, and did 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


181 


not speak, only hid her own distressed face, against the 
child’s dark curls. 

“ It is really too bad,” Mr. Gilbert said ruefully, “ that 
Ruth had to lose her dearly-loved playmate. “ He was 
such a fine little fellow. I am very sorry that he was taken 
away. You know his father came for him, do you not, 
Leah ? ” 

“ Miss Moore told me so this morning. I was very sorry 
to hear the news, for I was deeply attached to the child.” 
And Leah’s tears burst forth and mingled with the grieved 
little girl’s, who was nestling in her arms. 

“ I know you were, dearest, and I knew that his departure 
would cause you almost, if not quite, as much pain as it did 
Ruth. Did Miss Moore tell you who little Herbie’s father 
was ? If not, you have yet to hear the strange part of the 
story.” 

She looked at him with inquiring eyes wet with tears, but 
answered not a word, and the banker continued : 

“ It seems that a female relative of the child’s had placed 
it in Miss Moore’s charge to be kept until called for. The 
night that the little fellow was so sick, you remember, Miss 
Moore, who was searching for a doctor, accidentally ran 
upon Dr. Raymond, who had that day arrived in St. Augus- 
tine to claim his child. He went with the frightened woman 
to Palm Cottage, but did not discover until the next day 
that the sick child was his own son. Quite a little romance, 
was it not, my dear ? ” 

“ Quite,” Leah answered with dry lips. 

“ I like Dr. Raymond’s appearance very much, and wish 




182 her shadowed life. 

that we could have had the opportunity of cultivating his 
acquaintance further,” remarked the banker. 

“ I hate him,” said Ruth from her mother’s protecting 
arms, “ hate him with all my might, for taking my Herbie 
away.” 

Mr. Gilbert laughed, and then said reprovingly : 

“ Hate is a very naughty word for a little girl to use, 
Ruth. Of course, Herbie’s papa wanted his little child just 
as much as your papa wants you and your baby sister. Now 
run downstairs and ask Dicey to take you for a walk.” 

The child sighed deeply, dried her tears, and kissing her 
stepmother, left the room. 

“ Poor little thing ! ” Mrs. Gilbert said, as the door closed 
on Ruth’s retreating form. 

“Yes, she feels badly now, but she will soon forget her 
sorrow. Children’s grief is very easily assuaged,” he said as 
he sat down and changed the conversation into another 
channel. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


183 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

Life in St. Augustine, it seems to me, could never be dull 
and uninteresting to any one, and I know that the years which 
elapsed between the incidents related in the last chapter of 
this book and the present one were filled with interesting 
events for Mr. Gilbert, his charming wife, and beautiful 
daughters. 

Nevertheless, feeling that I have claimed my reader’s 
attention already too long, I shall turn the pages of these 
years with a hurried hand, not pausing to give one glimpse 
of the smiles and tears, joy and sorrow, which marked their 
passage, until the curtain rises again upon my characters 
nineteen years later. During this period a wonderful trans- 
formation had come over the “ ancient city by the sea.” 
Many of its narrow streets, with their foreign names, and 
houses built of coquina, with overhanging balconies and 
high garden walls, through which could be caught glimpses 
of the tropical luxuriance of the grounds and garden beyond, 
had disappeared. The natural beauty of the spot where 
Florida was first sighted by that redoubtable knight, Ponce 
de Leon, whose romantic search for the fabled Fountain of 
Youth made his name typical of the adventurous and chim- 


184 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


erical spirit* of the age in which he lived, had at last found 
worthy recognition. 

A wealthy capitalist of New York, sojourning a few weeks 
in St. Augustine, saw at a glance the possibilities of the 
place and happily resolved to make them good. This noble 
gentleman, with the splendid foresight and good taste which 
characterize all his movements in business, as well as social 
life, proceeded to improve and beautify the “ ancient city,’’ 
and at the same time preserve its antique appearance. 

Among other vast improvements, he erected, amid groves 
of orange, lemon, mulberry, magnolias, myrtle, and pal- 
mettos, a lofty castle commemorative of the genius and art 
of the Spanish race. 

With rare magnanimity the proprietor and builder of this 
wonderful castle, the construction and adornment of which 
is a perfect dream of grandeur, threw its doors open to the 
public as a hotel. Thousands and thousands of wealthy 
tourists, who formerly remained away from St. Augustine in 
consequence of their inability to secure hotel accommoda- 
tions commensurate with their wealth and habits, now 
turned their faces towards the picturesque and historic town. 
Finding themselves supplied with all that wealth could com- 
mand, they spent weeks reveling in the almost tropical win- 
ters, and in the rare beauties of nature and art so generously 
spread out for their delectation. 

It is not surprising, then, that among the names registered 
at the “ Spanish Castle ” should appear two with whom we 
have already become well acquainted in the history of these 
pages — i. e., Herbert Raymond, M.D., and Herbert Ray- 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


iS 5 


mond, Jr. True, the latter has grown from babyhood to 
manhood since we last saw him ; still one who had seen and 
known the bright, winsome child, would not have been dis- 
appointed in the tall, noble-looking youth who had taken the 
place of the child of nineteen years previous. He had 
finished his collegiate course, and the boy’s record at 
college had been a matter of great pride to his idolizing 
father. Then the two had started off on a rambling journey 
through the west. When the cold snows of winter descended 
upon the western plains, quite naturally the hearts of the 
travelers turned longingly toward a more congenial clime, 
and a few days later witnessed their names registered at the 
“ Spanish Castle,” in the ancient city. 

It seems strange that a person who has suffered from some 
great loss or misfortune, and who had fled from the scene of 
his sorrow, where everything animate and inanimate reminded 
him of the fiery furnace of affliction through which he had 
passed, will, sometimes in after years, when the pain of his 
loss has been soothed, to some extent, by the healing hand 
of time, be led by an unconquerable desire to revisit those 
very scenes associated with his sorrow. 

Thus it was with Dr. Raymond. For several years a desire 
to visit the city where Leah resided, had been strong upon 
him ; and when his son proposed that they join the tide of 
winter tourists flowing southward, he gave a ready assent. 

Fulfilling a promise made to Miss Moore upon parting, he 
had written to her at least once a year to tell her of the wel- 
fare of her nursling, to whom she was fondly attached. 
These letters always elicited a reply from the good owman, 


i86 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


who was now, after the harassing trials through which she 
had passed, living a life of quiet ease at the old Mansden 
residence in the west. Just before starting for the south, 
Dr. Raymond had visited her with his young son, and 
Martha’s delight at once more meeting her foster-child, and 
her pride at his noble and intellectual appearance, knew no 
bounds. As soon as the young man had retired for the 
night, and Dr. Raymond and Miss Moore were left alone in 
the parlor, he inquired eagerly for news of Leah. 

To learn that the woman, his love for whom had been the 
ruling passion of his lonely life, was prosperous and apparently 
happy, sent a wave of thankfulness over his unselfish soul. 

Then a mighty longing took possession of him to see her 
face once more, even though he might be denied the joy of 
exchanging one word with the idol of his youth. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


187 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

It might have been a scene from “ Vanity Fair.” The 
grand parlor at the “ Spanish Castle ” was a blaze of light. 
The walls and decorations of ivory-white and gold, with 
cupids and garlands and gauzy drapery amid the rosy clouds 
in the ceiling ; the rich furnishing of the elegant apartment ; 
the carved mantel, with its clock of transparent Mexican 
onyx ; the rare paintings from the hands of old masters ; — 
all formed an elegant and worthy setting for the gay as- 
semblage, costumed in the very height of fashion, with 
diamonds and other precious stones flashing and scintillating, 
gathered there to celebrate some great event in Spanish- 
American history. 

Dr. Raymond, attracted by the sounds of revelry in the 
magnificent apartment, paused on his way from the dining- 
hall to the street, where he was going for his evening stroll. 
Seeing his son among the happy throng, he entered, and 
picking his way, took a seat in one of the cozy nooks, of 
which the parlor has many, and there, wrapped in his own 
thoughts, contemplated the beautiful scene. It was three 
weeks since he and his son arrived in St. Augustine, and as 
yet he had caught no glimpse of the dear face enshrined 


i88 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


in his memory, although he had eagerly scanned the face of 
every lady he met who might be near Leah’s age, or in the 
least resemble her in form, in the prayerful hope of a 
chance meeting with his lost love. 

Two young ladies, all pink and white, with their pretty 
faces flushed with pleasure, and their eyes vying in bright- 
ness with the diamonds on the necks and arms of their 
fashionable mammas, fluttered up and paused near by where 
Dr. Raymond sat. 

“ What a lovely time we are having,” exclaimed one. “ I 
wonder why Ruth and Esther Gilbert don’t come ? ” 

“ Perhaps they are not coming,” returned her companion ; 
“ although Esther told me this morning that they intended 
to come. Oh ! there they come now ; ” and the two beauties 
started towards a party of four who were just entering the 
saloon. 

The group was composed of a lady of delicate appearance, 
dressed in cream satin ornamented with gauzy lace, with 
diamonds sparkling on her arms and neck, leaning upon the 
arm of a noble-looking gentleman whose dark hair was plenti- 
fully sprinkled with silver threads. Close behind the couple 
came two young girls in fairy gossamer-like garments that 
floated about their graceful forms like summer clouds above 
a Florida sunset. 

Dr. Raymond sprang to his feet, while the hot blood rushed 
for a moment in a blinding wave from his heart to his brain ; 
then, weak from emotion, he leaned against a massive column, 
and watched the little group as it broke up and scattered 
through the room. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


189 


“ There are the Gilberts. I did not know they had re- 
turned from Cuba,” spoke one matron to another within his 
hearing. 

“ Yes, they came home yesterday, after having been absent 
five or six weeks.” 

“ Don’t you think Mrs. Gilbert a very handsome woman ? ” 
replied the other. 

“Very ; but did you never notice what a sad, yearning ex- 
pression her eyes have when her features are in repose ? ” 
asked the first speaker. 

“Yes, I have frequently remarked upon it, and wondered 
why it is ; for, of all women in the world, it seems to me, Mrs. 
George Gilbert has the least cause for sadness.” 

“ One cannot always tell,” replied the first speaker. “ I sup- 
pose every heart knows its own bitterness, and there is an 
old adage which tells us that there is a skeleton in every house- 
hold, no matter how securely it may be hidden from the eyes 
of the outside world. But let us go and speak to her, and 
welcome her home after her long absence ; ” and the two 
ladies, all unconscious that every word of their light con- 
versation had been eagerly listened to by the tall, handsome 
stranger leaning wearily against the marble column near 
where they were standing, rustled away and joined the 
gay throng. 

The matter, which had caused Dr. Raymond no little anx- 
iety since his arrival in the city, was now explained. Mrs. 
Gilbert had been absent from home, and this was the cause 
of his not having met her sooner. He stood half hidden 
by the massive column, with his eyes riveted upon the loved 


190 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


face. She had changed somewhat. Beautiful young woman- 
hood had given place to the richer, riper fullness of mature 
years ; but within the depths of the large violet eyes he 
noted, with a pang at his heart, a pathetic shadow of sorrow 
that was not there in the old sweet days when she was his 
wedded love. 

An overwhelming desire took possession of his soul to 
speak to her : would he dare make the attempt? True, not 
one in the fashionable assemblage knew him, except it 
should be Mr. Gilbert, who was now nowhere to be seen in 
the room. But might not his sudden appearance before 
Leah cause her to betray her emotions in such a manner 
as to excite remark and inquiry among her friends ? 

Just then a beautiful voice was raised in song to the ac- 
companiment of the grand piano, which stood in a shaded 
recess, and the company strolled away in the direction of the 
sweet sounds. 

Mrs. Gilbert did not follow the others, but sat down, half 
wearily and quite alone, and seemed to fall into deep 
thought. Slowly Dr. Raymond left his hiding-place and 
approached where she sat. Her eyes were downcast, and 
she did not notice his near approach until he paused before 
her ; then Leah raised her eyes, gave one startled look into 
the eyes bent upon her, and started to her feet. 

“ Leah,” he said in a whisper, “ be careful, do not do any- 
thing to attract the attention of others.” And the next mo- 
ment the woman of the world, who had learned to act a part 
so well, had controlled her emotions, and was shaking hands 
with him as though he were some ordinary acquaintance 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


191 

from her list of friends. “ Come with to me the conserva- 
tory, ” he said in a low voice, as he raised his head after 
bowing before her. “ I have much to say to you.” 

Mechanically she placed her hand on his arm, and they 
started towards the door. In the doorway they met a young 
gentleman of her acquaintance just entering the room. She 
greeted him politely, and after introducing her companion, 
said : 

“ Mr. Chalmers, if you should happen to see Mr. Gilbert, 
or my daughters, will you please tell them that I have gone 
to the conservatory with a friend ? ” 

“ Certainly, madam,” the young man replied, bowing. 

“ Thank you,” the lady answered, and the couple passed 
him, crossed the wide hall, and ascended the grand stairway 
to the floor above. When they reached the beautiful con- 
servatory — the beauty of which is beyond the power of 
tongue or pen to describe — they entered through the softly 
shaded light, and sweet fragrance shed from rare flowers 
and shrubs growing luxuriantly within, and found a seat 
completely screened from view by a perfect wall of green 
leaves and bright-hued flowers. Then, and not until then, 
did Mrs. Gilbert trust herself to speak, and turning her white 
face upon her companion, said in a whisper : 

“Oh, Herbert, tell me of my son ! ” 

“ He is here, Leah ; in the very room we have just va- 
cated,” he replied in the same low tone. 

“ Take me to him. I must see him at once ! ” she cried, 
half starting to her feet with the exclamation. 

“ Hush, Leah ! and be calm, I beg of you,” he entreated, 


192 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


as he caught her hand in a restraining manner, and gently 
forcing her back into her seat, continued : “You shall soon 
see your son, but not until you have calmed yourself — re- 
member that you must meet him only as a stranger.” 

She covered her face with her hands, and smothered back 
the cry that almost escaped her lips. 

Her companion sat silent for a few moments, regarding 
her bowed head with a world of love and pity shining in his 
eyes. At length he gently drew her hands away from her 
troubled face ; and when he saw the traces which sorrow 
and remorse had left there, a mist came over his eyes, and 
for a moment obscured the dear face from his vision. Then 
he talked to her in a low soothing voice, trying to comfort 
her with the assurance of his forgiveness ; even trying, in 
the nobleness of his manly heart, to convince her that she 
had not really been to blame for the sorrow that had fallen 
to her and his lot to bear. 

Then he told her of her son ; spoke of his manly character, 
and of his success at college ; told her of the great comfort 
the boy had been to him through all these years which 
marked her separation from him. 

“ But for the blessing the boy has been to me, Leah, I do 
not know how I could have endured life, bereft as I was of 
you,” he said feelingly. 

“ What explanation did you give to your friends for your 
son’s existence ? ” she asked at length. 

“ When I told you at Palm Cottage of the years of vain 
searching for you, my d ” 

He checked himself suddenly, crushing back the word 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


x 9 3 


of endearment which he was about to utter, and con- 
tinued : 

“ My friends always thought that my lost wife, for whom I 
was spending years of search, was only a myth that had 
sprung up in my disordered brain, as a result of the severe 
injury it had sustained in the unfortunate accident which 
befell me. When I returned home after a brief sojourn south 
bringing the flaxen-haired, blue-eyed boy with me, and pre- 
senting him to my friends as my child and that of my lost 
wife, they smiled significantly into each other’s eyes, petted 
the boy, and humored me in what they thought my mono- 
mania, but did not question me as to how I had come into 
possession of the child. I doubt not that for years they 
would not have been surprised to have learned that the boy 
was one whom my insane freak had led me to abduct.” 

While this conversation had been carried on in whispers, 
other couples flitted in and out of the grand conservatory, 
or paused to rest a few moments on soft seats under the leafy 
archways, while they breathed the sweet fragrance of the 
flowers, and listened to the distant strains which came float- 
ing up from the orchestra, mingling with the music of water 
falling from fountains into the marble basins beneath. But 
no one intruded behind the green screen where, all un- 
observed, Dr. Raymond and the banker’s wife sat absorbed, 
discussing a subject so dear to the heart of each. 

13 


194 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

Suddenly a voice reached their ears which brought them 
quickly to their feet, while every vestige of color forsook 
Mrs. Gilbert’s cheeks. It was the voice of Mr. Gilbert, 
saying : 

“ Mrs. Weldon, have you seen Mrs. Gilbert in the conserv- 
atory this evening ? Mr. Chalmers told me that she had 
come here to rest.” 

“ I have not seen her, Mr. Gilbert,” replied the lady ad- 
dressed, “ although she may be here ; I have been sitting 
ever since I came in. Perhaps she is in ‘ Lovers’ Bower.’ 
If so, I advise you to find her at once, for that is a danger- 
ously romantic place.” 

The banker and Mrs. Weldon, who were old friends, 
laughed together over the lady’s jesting words. As Dr. Ray- 
mond and Mrs. Gilbert started to leave their place of con- 
cealment, the former whispered impressively : 

“ Gardez, Leah,” and a moment later they stood face to 
face with Mr. Gilbert under the soft white light. 

“ Ah, here you are, truant ! ” the husband exclaimed, as 
his eyes fell upon her. Then he stopped short as he noticed 
the stranger by her side. 

“Whom do you suppose I have met?” she said lightly, 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


*95 

trying with all the strength of will-power she possessed to 
speak without a tremor in her voice. 

“An old friend, perhaps,” he answered, smiling back at 
her. 

“ I must claim him as such,” she said, “ for the one to 
whom I refer is our little Herbert’s father, and the child was 
such a favorite of ours. Should you have recognized Dr. 
Raymond ? ” and she looked from Mr. Gilbert’s puzzled face 
into that of the tall stranger by her side. 

“ Dr. Raymond ? ” Mr. Gilbert said in rather a bewildered 
tone. “ No — yes — why, is it possible ! ” and he extended 
his hand and clasped Dr. Raymond’s in friendly greeting. 
“ No, I do not think I should have recognized Dr. Raymond; 
but then my acquaintance with him was slight. I am pleased 
to welcome him back to our city, and to have an opportunity 
to inquire of him in regard to his child, to whom we were 
so much attached.” 

Dr. Raymond bowed his thanks. 

“ The child has grown to man’s estate, Mr. Gilbert.” 

“Of course,” replied Mr. Gilbert reflectively. “How long 
has it been since you took him away from Palm Cottage?” 

“ Nineteen years,” answered Dr. Raymond. 

“Nineteen years! Why, then, the boy is twenty-three. 
Ah ! those children, doctor, how quickly they grow to matu- 
rity, and how their added growth of years serves to remind 
their parents of the many milestones those parents have 
passed on the road of life. But where is little ‘ Herbie,’ as 
we used to call him ? ” 

“ I left him in the drawing-rooms below,” Dr. Raymond 


196 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


answered ; “ and if Mrs. Gilbert and yourself will kindly 
accompany me thither, I shall take great pleasure in present- 
ing my son to you, or,” he continued upon second thought, 
“ if the lady and yourself will remain here, I will bring him to 
you.” 

Both gentlemen looked toward the lady for her to decide 
the question, and she answered : 

“ I should prefer to remain here and await his coming.” 
“Very well, madam, I shall be back in a few moments, 
and bring my son with me, if I am able to find him.” 

Dr. Raymond bowed and left the room, bent on his 
errand. 

“ Get us a secluded seat,” Mrs. Gilbert said to her husband, 
as soon as they were alone. 

“ How pale you are, Leah,” the banker remarked after 
they were seated. “ Do you not feel well ? ” 

“ I think it is the perfume of the flowers ; to feel faint 
when I inhale too much of their sweet fragrance, is an idio- 
syncrasy of mine, you know,” replied the lady, smiling faintly. 

“ Perhaps, after all, we had best descend to the parlor,” he 
said, with concern in his voice. 

“ Oh, no, thank you, she answered quickly, for of all things 
she feared to meet her son in the full glare of the parlor 
lights, and before so many guests. “ I shall feel better pres- 
ently. I want to overcome this weakness if possible. Is it 
not beautiful up here ? ” and they fell to discussing the 
conservatory, with its growth of rare tropical plants, its vines, 
and beautiful flowers, and remarked upon the exquisite taste 
shown in their arrangement. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


1 97 


By and by — it was not long, twenty minutes, perhaps, 
after Dr. Raymond had left them — the merry voices of a group 
entering the conservatory fell upon the ears of Mr. and Mrs. 
Gilbert, and soon Dr. Raymond, with Ruth Gilbert leaning on 
his arm, stood before them. 

The couple were followed by a tall handsome young man, 
dressed with . exquisite taste, and whose refined, and pleas- 
ing manners denoted the true gentleman. By his side, with 
the tips of her fingers resting shyly upon his arm, came the 
petite form of Esther Gilbert. 

“ Mamma,” exclaimed Ruth, “ isn’t this a delightful sur- 
prise ? Our ‘ little Herbie ’ has returned after all these years 
of absence ! ” 

“ He is anything but ‘ little ’ now,” laughed Dr. Raymond, 
as he drew his son forward and introduced him to Mr. and 
Mrs. Gilbert. 

The tears, which, all unnoticed by the others, sprang into 
Mrs. Gilbert’s eyes as she placed her cold hand in that of her 
son, were all that saved her from fainting with the excessive 
and conflicting emotions which surged through her heart. 
Her first-born ! — her beloved and only son ! Oh, cruel fate ! 
that would not permit her to lay her arms about his neck and 
welcome him back with loving kisses, after all these years of 
separation. 

“ Why, upon my word, Dr. Raymond ! ” exclaimed Mr. 
Gilbert, after eying the young man’s features a moment 
critically, “ your son still resembles my wife.” 

Dr. Raymond, taken by surprise as he was by the banker’s 
words, started as though the point of a sharp dagger had been 


198 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


suddenly thrust into his tender flesh. He felt the blood 
leaving his face, and for a moment almost lost his cool self- 
possession. But fear for Leah’s sake helped him to quickly 
recover his self-control so that he was able to answer Mr. 
Gilbert’s next remark in a manner that excited no surprise 
in the eyes of any one of the party, except Mrs. Gilbert, who 
felt at that moment as though her good name, her future 
happiness, and even her life, depended upon Dr. Raymond’s 
coolness. 

“ I often remarked to my wife, when Herbert was a small 
boy, that he resembled her quite enough to be her brother,” 
continued Mr. Gilbert. “ Now that the two are together, 
can you not detect the resemblance ? ” 

Dr. Raymond gazed for a moment into Leah’s eyes, which 
looked up into his face with an unspoken prayer in their 
depths, unnoticed by all save himself, and then glancing 
from them into the face of his smiling son, said : 

“ Since you have called my attention to it, I believe I do 
detect a slight resemblance between the two ; not more, how- 
ever, than is usually noted between persons of the same tem- 
perament. For instance, Miss Esther has the same shade 
of hair and eyes, with something of the same cast of features 
as my son, and I think the resemblance between the young 
lady and himself is even more noticeable than it is between 
Mrs. Gilbert and him. A chance resemblance between 
strangers is not, by any means, an unusual occurrence.” 

“ I am highly flattered indeed,” exclaimed the young man, 
“ when I hear it asserted that I in the least degree resemble 
Mrs. Gilbert and her charming daughter. I fear, however, 


A chance resemblance between strangers is not by any means an unusual occurrence. 

Page 198. 
















































HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


1 99 


that what appears in my eyes as a great compliment to my 
features may be considered by the ladies as anything but a 
compliment to theirs.” 

Ruth made some laughing reply, and the subject of con- 
versation, being skillfully turned at this moment by Dr. 
Raymond, drifted into other topics. 

Mrs. Gilbert had been so frightened while the light con- 
versation was carried on, that her limbs shook, and the 
pulsations of her heart sounded so loudly in her ears, that 
she feared they would become audible to Mr. Gilbert, who 
was standing very near her side. 

She did not join in the conversation ; but after Dr. Ray- 
mond had changed it into a safer channel, sat down wearily, 
and furtively watched her son’s features as he stood talking 
to Esther, who listened to his words with her face all aglow 
with animation. 

At length Ruth, noticing her stepmother’s abstracted 
manner and pale face, said : 

“ Mamma looks tired, papa. Had we not better go 
home ? ” 

Mr. Gilbert, who had been holding what to him was an 
interesting conversation with Dr. Raymond in regard to the 
vast improvements which had been made in St. Augustine 
since the doctor’s last visit, came back to a realization of his 
present surroundings, and said, with self-reproach : 

“ How thoughtless of me to permit your mother to remain 
so long in the conservatory when I know the fragrance of the 
flowers always affects her unpleasantly. See how very pale 
she is ! ” and going to Mrs. Gilbert’s side, he proposed that 


200 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


they should return home at once. He offered her his arm, 
and led the way from the conservatory, while the others fol- 
lowed in the order in which they came. Dr. Raymond and 
his son, accompanied their new-found friends to their 
carriage when they were ready to depart, and, with the under- 
standing that Mr. Gilbert would call upon the two gentlemen 
the next day, they assisted the young ladies to their places 
beside their mother, bade them good-night, and watched the 
carriage roll away through the bright moonlight, over the 
smoothly-paved street, toward Myrtle Villa. 


BEK SHADOWED LIFE. 


201 


CHAPTER XXX. 

True to his promise, the banker called upon Dr. Raymond 
and his son at their hotel the next day. He, in return, gave 
the two gentlemen a pressing invitation to visit Myrtle Villa 
and become better acquainted with Mrs. Gilbert and her 
daughters. 

Young Raymond did not let many days elapse before he 
availed himself of Mr. Gilbert’s kind invitation. He could 
not, however, prevail upon his father to accompany him, 
although he used every argument possible to induce him to 
do so. When he arrived at the villa he sent his card to the 
ladies, who, the servant informed him, were at home, and 
sat down in the elegantly furnished parlor to wait their com- 
ing. In a few moments Mrs. Gilbert made her appearance 
and welcomed him warmly, and the young man’s heart was 
irresistibly drawn toward the charming lady in a manner 
never experienced by him before in any lady’s company. 
He spent a delightful hour with her and her fair daughters. 

In the afternoon as he sat alone with his father in their 
private parlor at the “ Spanish Castle,” he told him of his 
visit to Myrtle Villa, and how charmed he had been with his 
hostess, her beautiful daughters, and their elegant home. 


202 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ Mrs. Gilbert does not seem as a stranger to me,” he 
said ; “ I am sure I have often seen her face in my dreams. I 
believe she is my ideal of what a mother should be ; ” and 
the boy sighed as he thought that the greatest blessing on 
earth had been denied him — that of a mother’s love. 

“ Southern women are very warm-hearted and hospitable 
as a rule,” Dr. Raymond replied. “ I suppose the fact of 
Mrs. Gilbert having known and loved you in your infancy 
made her even kinder to you than if you had been an entire 
stranger. Do you not remember her in the least ? ” and Dr. 
Raymond, as he put the question, scanned his son’s face 
narrowly. 

“ Miss Ruth Gilbert asked me the same question this 
morning,” Herbert replied. “ She insists that she remembers 
me. If this be so, as I am one year her senior, I ought to 
remember the young lady and her mother. If I have any 
recollection of them, however, it is very, very vague, and 
seems to me more like the broken fragments of a pleasant 
but almost forgotten dream than a reality.” 

“ You were too young when I took you from Palm Cot- 
tage to have anything but a very indistinct remembrance of 
that period in your life,” his father answered, as he resumed 
his reading. 

The young man took up his hat to leave the room. 

“ By the way, father,” he paused to say, with his hand on 
the door-knob,” we are invited to the villa to tea this even 
ing at five o’clock.” 

“ Did Mrs. or Mr. Gilbert invite us ? ” Dr. Raymond 
asked, without looking up from the pages of his book. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


203 


“ Mrs. Gilbert gave the invitation,” was the reply. 

“Are you sure that I was included in the invitation ?” Dr. 
Raymond asked. 

Herbert laughed. 

“ You must have the gift of second-sight, father,” he said, 

“ and I may as well confess that at first she did not include 
you in the invitation. The lady did not seem to notice the 
omission until both her daughters supplemented : 1 And be 

sure to bring Dr. Raymond with you, Mr. Raymond.’ Mrs. _ 
Gilbert colored slightly, at having made the oversight, I 
suppose, and said : ‘ Certainly.’ ” 

Dr. Raymond flushed slightly under his son’s steady gaze, 
and asked : 

“ Do you intend to accept the invitation ? ” 

“ I had thought of so doing. You will accompany me, 
will you not? ” young Raymond replied. 

“ I have an engagement at that hour which will prevent 
my so doing,” Dr. Raymond answered. “ So you will please 
convey my regards and regrets to the ladies at Myrtle Villa.” 

“ I am very sorry you cannot go. I am desirous to have 
you become better acquainted with the family, and especially 
with Mrs. Gilbert, whom I think the most interesting lady I 
have ever met.” 

With these words Herbert passed out, and closed the door. 
Had he turned suddenly back, however, the spectacle there 
witnessed would have caused his eyes to open wide in amaze- 
ment. 

Dr. Raymond had dropped the book from which he had 
been reading, and it lay half open on the carpet at his feet, 


204 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


while the hands which had held it, were clenched together 
until the nails almost drew blood from the tender palms 
His face was very pale, his lips firmly closed, and his eyes 
shone with a rebellious light, as though he fain would, with 
his puny human strength, battle down the insurmountable 
barrier which fate, with cruel caprice, had erected between 
himself and happiness. 

The first evening spent by Herbert at Myrtle Villa, was 
the beginning of an intimate friendship between the banker’s 
interesting family and the young man ; and soon scarcely a 
day passed that did not see him at the villa, or walking or 
driving with Mrs. Gilbert, and one or both of her fair 
daughters. 

So the glorious winter months in this semi-tropical climate 
sped swiftly away. After the first meeting of Mrs. Gilbert 
and Dr. Raymond at the “ Spanish Castle,” the two did not 
meet again except at church, or upon the street, and no con- 
versation had taken place between them. 

It puzzled Herbert to understand why his father could 
never be induced to visit Myrtle Villa, and it was a matter 
of regret to him also that he should so persistently decline 
to cultivate the acquaintance of the Gilberts. 

“ I know that you do not care for society in the general 
acceptation of the term, but I think you might make an ex- 
ception in this case for my sake, at least,” the young man 
said, when discussing a ball which was to be given at the 
villa, and the last one of the season. 

“ Do not urge me to go, my son,” he replied. “ I never 
cared to attend balls in my youth, and I am too old to culti- 





“ A man and woman witli heads bent close together.” — Page 205 



HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


205 


vate a taste for them now,” and taking up his hat and cane, 
he sallied forth for one of the long solitary walks in which 
he daily indulged. 

This afternoon he wandered far beyond the ancient city 
gates, and continued his lonely walk until the lengthening 
evening shadows warned him that the day was drawing 
speedily to a close. When he reached the sea-wall on his 
return the sun had set, and the shadowy twilight was melt- 
ing into the silvery radiance of the full moon’s tender light, 
turning the picture of the old fort, the bay with its sail-boats 
and fishing-smacks lying at anchor, the ancient sea-wall, the 
stately trees lining the streets, and the lights twinkling from 
the city, all into a scene worthy the brush of a renowned 
artist. 

As the man, with head bent in thought, continued his 
homeward way, a silvery laugh coming, it must have been, 
from the happy heart of a young girl, fell upon his ears and 
caused him to quickly raise his head. A man and woman 
with heads bent close together, one might think in lovers’ 
fashion, were walking a short distance before him on the 
sea-wall. Something familiar in the man’s appearance 
caused Dr. Raymond to quicken his footsteps, and soon he 
stood behind the pair, whose lagging gait proved plainly that 
they were in no haste to reach the termination of their pleas- 
ant walk. 

Hearing footsteps approaching from behind, the girl 
glanced quickly — apprehensively the doctor thought — over 
her shoulder, and recognizing Dr. Raymond, stopped short 
in her walk, saying : 


2 06 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


“ Here is your father, Herb — Mr. Raymond.” She had 
evidently almost addressed her companion by his given 
name, but checking herself in time, substituted his sur- 
name, and stood smiling and blushing as Dr. Raymond 
advanced and held his hand out toward her, saying : 

“ Good-evening, Miss Gilbert ; I thought I recognized you 
and my son by the light of the moon.” 

“ We did not hear you coming until this moment, or we 
should have waited for you,” Herbert said, flushing slightly. 
“ Have you been walking near behind us all the way from 
the fort ? ” and his father thought the young man put the 
question a little anxiously. 

“No, not very near, for I did not notice any one on the 
sea-wall until just before I came up with you. I trust you 
are having a pleasant stroll.” 

“ Delightful, thank you,” replied the young lady. “ Will 
you not join us, Dr. Raymond ? ” 

“ I fear my somber presence would spoil the romance of 
this beautiful scene, Miss Esther,” he said, laughing. 

“ Oh, no, indeed,” she replied, laughing and blushing, and 
then said naively: “We are on our way home and are due 

there already,” glancing in the bright moonlight at the tiny 
watch she had drawn from her belt as she spoke. “ I 
will be delighted to have you accompany us, and remain 
to tea ; it would be a pleasant surprise to papa and 
mamma.” 

“ I regret that my engagements are such that I shall have 
to forego the pleasure that would be afforded me by an ac- 
ceptance of your kind invitation. Permit me to thank you 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


207 


for your kindness, and ask you to present my compliments 
to your parents and sister.” 

He shook hands with her again with old-time courtesy, 
and turning to his son, asked : 

“ What time shall you be at the hotel to-night, Herbert ? ” 

“ About eleven o’clock, sir,” the young man replied. 

“ I shall probably be reading as late as that hour, and will 
see you when you come in. Well, au revoi?' ; and Dr. Ray- 
mond, being near a pair of stone steps leading from the 
sea-wall to the street below, descended them and took a 
short way to his hotel. 

This chance meeting with Leah’s son and daughter had 
given him food for harassing conjecture, and made him 
recognize the possibility of a question arising in the near 
future the issue of which would lead to Leah’s exposure and 
disgrace. 


2 08 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

It was high noon of the day after the ball at Myrtle 
Villa, which had been the grandest success of the season. 
Dr. Raymond sat alone in his private parlor at the “ Spanish 
Castle.” Some one knocked at his door for admittance ; and 
when it was opened by the occupant of the room, he saw 
a bell boy belonging to the hotel, and a small negro boy 
dressed in the livery of the servants of Myrtle Villa, standing 
outside. 

“ This boy has a message for Dr. Raymond,” the bell boy 
said. 

“ Very well ; what is it ? ” answered the gentleman. 

“ Please, sah, may I come in ? ” said the boy mysteriously, 
as the hotel boy disappeared down the corridor. 

“ Certainly.” 

The small boy stepped into the room and closed the door 
himself. 

“ Is you Doctah Raymond ?” he said, showing all his even 
white ivories as he spoke. 

“ I am. What can I do for you,” answered the doctor in 
an amused voice. 

“ Is you shoah you’s alone, Doctah ? ” further inquired the 
pickaninny. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


209 


“ Quite sure. What are you going to do ? — rob me ? ” 
said the doctor, laughing at the boy’s comical appearance. 

“No, sah, I wouldn’t rob nobody fo’ nothin’. My missus 
has done learned me bettah manners dan dat, sah.” 

“ Glad to hear it,” laughed the gentleman ! “ What do 

you want with me ? ” 

“ If you’s shoah — double shoah you’s all alone by yo’sef, 
I wants to tell you something.” 

“ Yes, I am all alone by myself,” the doctor assured him. 

“ An’ nobody’s gwine to heah what I say ? ” further ques- 
tioned the boy. 

“ Nobody,” was there assuring reply. 

“ Well, den, sah, I’se got a note foil you, sah ; ” and the 
boy unbuttoned his snug jacket, and taking out a small 
white envelope, handed it to the gentleman. 

Dr. Raymond glanced at the address, and recognized, 
with a thrill, mingled with pain and pleasure, the hand- 
writing of Leah. Hastily he broke the seal and read • 

“ I must have a private interview with you at the earliest 
moment possible, to discuss a matter of the gravest im- 
portance to us both. Are you able to suggest a plan by 
which we may meet without fear of interruption or exciting 
suspicion ? Send answer immediately by the boy who brings 
you this message.” 

The note was without address, date, or signature, but 
none of these were needed to convey to its recipient the 
fact that the woman for whose welfare and happiness he 

14 


210 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


was trying bravely to bear his cross was in trouble and 
sought assistance from him. 

“ Wait a moment,” he said to the messenger, and going to 
a small inlaid desk which stood in the room, wrote : 

“You may see me in my private parlor at my hotel with- 
out interruption, or the least fear of exciting suspicion. It 
is no unusual occurrence for me to have lady-callers who 
come for the purpose of consulting me professionally. Come 
to-morrow at 3 p. m. I will instruct my valet to watch for 
the arrival of your carriage, and he will conduct you to my 
private apartments, so that you need not have to make in- 
quiries to find me. Have no fears.” 

This note, without address, date, or signature, as hers had 
been, he placed in an envelope, and going back to where the 
boy stood, patiently waiting, said : 

“You are to put this note in your jacket pocket, and not 
let any one see it, or know that you have it. When you 
deliver it to your mistress, you must do so when no one else 
will see you. Do you understand ? ” 

“Yes, sah, done ’stood all ’bout it ’foh you tole me, massa, 
for my Missus Leah done charged me over an’ over again 
what to do, and if anybody see dat note ’ceptin’ Mis 
Leah dey’d have to knock me in the head fust.” 

“Very well, I will trust you,” and the doctor slipped a 
dollar into the boy’s hand, whose eyes sparkled with delight 
when he saw the shining coin. 

Then a thought suddenly occurring to the gentleman, he 
said cautiously ; 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


21 1 


“You must not show any one your dollar or tell that I 
gave you one.” 

“No, sah; my Mis Leah and de young missuses has 
learned me bettah manners dan to blab ; ’sides, I’se too 
much of a gen’l’man to talk wid white ‘ buckra ’ or common 
niggahs. No, sah, I’ll jest slip my dollar into Mis Leah’s 
han’ when nobody is lookin’, an’ she’ll put it away till I needs 
it, sah.” 

“ All right ; then be off,” and the gentleman opened the 
door, and the wily little messenger, grinning all over his 
sleek black face, disappeared like a flash down the long cor- 
ridor. 

Dr. Raymond turned back into the room, and taking the 
tiny note from his pocket, perused it again and again, until 
every word it contained was emblazoned on his memory. 
Leah was in trouble, but from what cause he racked his brain 
in vain to conjecture. 

His reverie was interrupted by Herbert, whom he had not 
seen that day. After talking a few moments pleasantly with 
his son, Dr. Raymond said : 

“ Sit down and tell me about last night’s ball.” 

“ Something I should never have dared attempt, sir, with- 
out being solicited by you ; because I am aware that gen- 
erally even a brief description of a ball bores my father 
almost beyond endurance,” replied the young man, laughing 
as he spoke. Then he proceeded to give a graphic descrip- 
tion of the entertainment at Myrtle Villa, and wound up by 
saying : “ But to fully understand how well the art of enter- 
taining successfully is understood by the people of the south, 


212 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


one must attend at least one of these enjoyable occa- 
sions.” 

“ Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert entered fully into the young peo- 
ple’s spirit of gayety, I suppose,” Dr. Raymond remarked 
casually. 

“ I thought so in the beginning of the evening, but later 
on I noticed Mrs. Gilbert looking very pale, almost har- 
assed, I thought, although the lady was unremitting in her 
attentions to her guests. She was much fatigued, no doubt, 
and this was the cause of her paleness.” 

“ Misses Ruth and Esther are very charming young ladies,” 
further remarked the elder man. 

“Very charming, indeed,” was the enthusiastic reply. 

“ Miss Esther is, I think, however, your favorite of the 
two,” Dr. Raymond said cautiously. 

A red flush spread quickly over the young man’s some- 
what tanned cheeks. 

“ What leads you to suppose such is the case ? ” he asked, 
half-confusedly. 

“Various small incidents, chief among which was the very 
confidential manner in which the young lady and yourself 
were conversing when I overtook you walking on the sea- 
wall last Monday evening,” Dr. Raymond answered. 

Herbert flushed again, almost painfully, under his father’s 
scrutiny, and said : 

“ Miss Esther is a very entertaining and amiable young 
lady, but I think Miss Ruth the more intellectual, as well as 
the more beautiful of the two.” 

“ Have you an engagement for to- morrow afternoon ? ” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


213 


asked Dr. Raymond, suddenly changing the subject under 
discussion. 

“No, I think not,” Herbert began reflectively, and then 
suddenly remembering what he had for a moment forgotten, 
corrected his statement. “ Oh, yes, I have an engagement 
to go out with a sailing-party. Will you not go also ? ” 

“ What hour do you start ? ” inquired his father. 

“At one o’clock,” Herbert replied. 

Dr. Raymond drew a sigh of relief. His son would be 
absent from the hotel when Mrs. Gilbert called, which would 
prevent a chance meeting between the two, and embarrass- 
ing questions which the former might ask of him in regard 
to the nature of the lady’s call. 

“I cannot go, Herbert, for I have an appointment to fill 
at that hour,” he said at length. 

“ I regret that you cannot go, for sailing over those calm 
southern waters in this delightful weather is very enchant- 
ing,” the son replied. 

“ You must not become so enamored of this picturesque 
place and its surroundings as to forget home, Herbert,” his 
father answered, “ because I am thinking seriously of return- 
ing to New York next week.” 

The young man started. 

“ Next week ! ” he exclaimed in surprise. “ Why go so 
early? This is only March, and the weather in New York 
at this season is what the English call ‘ beastly.’ ” 

“ I have business that requires my early attention at 
home,” replied the elder man ; “ and, besides, we have been 
here almost five months.” 


214 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


“ It does not seem possible that we have been here so 
long,” Herbert rejoined, and then added earnestly : “ I can- 
not think of leaving yet, for several weeks at least. And I 
wish that we might be able to make our business arrange- 
ments such that we might remain here for the term of our 
natural lives.” 

Dr. Raymond laughed at his son’s enthusiasm, and turned 
to examine the contents of his mail, which had just been 
delivered by his valet, and the young man took his hat, left 
the hotel, and directed his footsteps toward Myrtle Villa. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


2I 5 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

1 1 am going to drive out a short distance into the country 
this afternoon,” Dr. Raymond said to his son, as the two left 
the table after luncheon. “ If you are going directly to the 
wharf to meet the sailing party, you may as well go in the 
carriage with me, as I shall pass very near the place.” 

“ Are you going at once ? ” Herbert asked. 

“ In a few moments,” his father replied. 

“ It is almost an hour before the time set for the sailing, 
but I can wait the arrival of the others at the dock,” Herbert 
returned thoughtfully ; and soon the two gentlemen were 
driving swiftly towards the bay. 

“ What time do you suppose you will return ? ” Dr. Ray- 
mond asked, as his son alighted at the wharf. 

“ We do not expect to return before nine o’clock ; and if 
we should be out an hour or two later, you will have no 
cause for uneasiness for our safety,” the young man 
replied. 

Dr. Raymond wished the party a pleasant time, bade his 
son good-afternoon, and drove away. 

Herbert, being in no hurry, stood watching the carriage 
until it disappeared down the shell road, and then walked 


2 1 6 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


leisurely on to the floating dock to await the arrival of his 
companions. No one as yet had put in an appearance, al- 
though the pretty little sailing craft moored to the dock, with 
her white sails flapping lazily in the soft zephyrs, stood bow- 
ing and curtseying on the gentle swell of the waves glinting 
in the rays of the afternoon sun. 

“ Hello, Raymond ! ” 

“Good-evening, Foster.” 

And Herbert stood shaking hands with a well-built, broad- 
shouldered young man, with a smooth, pleasant face, and 
large dreamy brown eyes. 

“ Where are the other boys ? ” Raymond asked. 

“ Oh, it is just my deuced luck,” returned Foster. “ The 
sail has been postponed until to-morrow afternoon, and I 
won’t manage to go, because I have to go to Jacksonville 
to-morrow.” 

“ Why was the party postponed ? ” Herbert inquired. 

“ On account of the funeral this afternoon of a distant rel- 
ative of Captain Roylston, which prevented his going, and 
the boys concluded not to go until to-morrow.” 

“ I don’t care for the postponement myself, only if it will 
deprive us of your company. Can’t you put off your trip to 
Jacksonville until the day following?” Herbert asked. 

“ Oh, no ; I must go to-morrow,” the other replied. 

“ Well, come home with me and spend the afternoon, and 
I will do my best to entertain you, to make up a little for 
your disappointment,” Herbert continued kindly. 

“ Just my luck again,” growled Foster. “If I could ac- 
cept your kind invitation, I shouldn’t care so much about 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


217 


being deprived of the sail. I can’t do so, however, for I 
have promised to go driving with Len Masters this after- 
noon.” 

So the two young men quitted the dock and sauntered 
slowly back to town. When they reached the court of the 
“ Spanish Castle ” they separated, Foster going to keep his 
appointment with his friend, while the other entered the hotel 
and made his way to his father’s and his own private apart- 
ment. 

He let himself into the parlor with his pass-key, and looked 
about for some way to pass the time until his father’s 
return. 

“ Wish I had known of the postponement of the sailing 
party before father went away, and I should have driven with 
him,” he thought, as he sat down in the adjoining smoking- 
room to enjoy his cigar. 

He sat with lazy, half-shut eyes watching the blue rings of 
smoke as they left his mouth and floated circling and curling 
about his head. 

“ I see her dear face in everything,” he soliloquized. “ It 
is even framed in the soft curls of smoke, or peeps shyly out 
at me from every nook in the room. It is the sweet com- 
panion of my dreams, wandering with me through enchanted 
lands, and never, never leaving me in my waking hours. 
Well, one thing I am determined upon. I shall never leave 
this city until I have learned my fate from her own dear 
lips.” 

He threw the stump of his cigar into the grate, and get- 
ting up, sauntered back into the parlor, picked up the New 


2l8 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


York daily paper, and throwing himself upon a luxurious 
lounge screened behind heavy Oriental curtains, began to 
glance over its contents. 

The light in the cozy nook was weak and soft, and the 
print before his eyes was small ; so in a few moments the 
paper lay unheeded on the rug by his side, while he lay with 
closed eyes and listless hands clasped across his breast. 
Ere long the sweet face, which had been the subject of his 
soliloquy, was brought with a lover’s imagination near his 
own. 

The sounds about the great house grew muffled and more 
indistinct. The clock in the convent not far distant struck 
the hour of two. The sound of horses’ feet passing swiftly 
through the broad thoroughfare below grew hollow and far 
away, and then all sounds blended together in delicious 
music, as he clasped his loved one’s hand, and sailed with 
her airily away into the sweet mystery of dreams. 

He was awakened by the sounds of bitter weeping. He 
rubbed his eyes, thinking that he must still be dreaming, and 
listened again. A woman’s voice, speaking in tones of 
agony, floated to his listening ears. 

“ My God, Herbert ! what shall I do if my worst fears are 
verified ? I never will face the disgrace of exposure. I 
will kill myself first ! ” and the speaker’s further utterance 
was choked by tears and sobs. 

“ Leah, my love, — you must let me call you so — you may 
be alarming yourself unnecessarily,” said a man’s deep voice, 
which the listener recognized as that of his own father. 

He raised himself slowly to a sitting posture, and 



“ He raised liimselt slowly in a sitting posture. — Page 218 



HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


219 


cautiously peered through the slight aperture in the curtains. 
A woman slightly above the medium height, but of slender 
build, dressed in a heavy black silk, stood with her back 
towards him, half leaning her head against Dr. Raymond’s 
shoulder, who stood with his arm thrown protectingly around 
her slender waist. Her silk velvet wrap had slipped off and 
lay on the carpet at her feet, while one small gloved hand 
held a handkerchief pressed to her weeping eyes. 

She did not answer the man’s reassuring words, but 
continued to sob and catch her breath in gasps. 

“ Has the boy spoken to you or the girl’s father about his 
love ? ” Dr. Raymond questioned. 

“ No, he has not ; but we would be blind indeed not to 
discover it without his spoken confession,” was the sobbing 
answer. 

“ Let me place you in a chair, Leah ; you are weak and 
trembling,” he said with great tenderness. 

He half carried her to a large arm-chair, seated her therein, 
and knelt by her side. 

“Try to calm yourself, darling, and we will devise some 
way out of this difficulty,” he said entreatingly. 

“ Oh, Herbert, for the love of Heaven, do not now use 
words of endearment to me ; I cannot bear to hear them,” 
she cried, taking her handkerchief from her eyes and looking 
at him reproachfully. 

As she raised her head the young man behind the cur- 
tains caught a full view of her features. 

“ Great God ! it is Mrs. Gilbert,” was his mental excla- 
mation, as he started to his feet in amazement. 


220 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


He pressed his hand tightly to his mouth to force back 
the cry which rose involuntarily to his lips, as he made the 
startling discovery, and sank back upon the lounge, bending 
his body far forward as he continued to listen with an eager 
curiosity that was beyond all sense of word, fitness, or his 
strength of will-power to resist. 

“ Forgive me, Leah,” Dr. Raymond said penitently, “ I 
will try to remember our relative positions, although my 
heart tells me that it would be no sin for me to take you in 
my arms and kiss your tears away.” 

She silenced him with an imploring gesture. 

“ Will you tell me what to do ? ” she entreated in despairing 
tones. 

“ I will take the boy away,” he said. “ I told him yester- 
day that we must shortly return to New York.” 

“ But this will not have the effect to thwart him in his pur- 
pose, if he desires to marry the girl,” she said despairingly. 

“ Leah, can you not lay your commands upon your daugh- 
ter ? ” he asked, thoughtfully. 

“Yes, with the same result that my grandmother’s com- 
mands had upon me,” she said with great bitterness, and 
then added in a heart-broken tone : “ Oh, Herbert, did ever 
an act of disobedience bear such bitter fruit as mine has 
borne ? ” * 

He took her gloved hand from where it rested on the arm 
of the chair, and caressed it between his own, pityingly, 
but made no answer to her question. She had ceased to 
weep, and looked into his face with despairing eyes as she 
continued : 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


221 


“ What shall I do ? How can I avert this awful deed and 
not expose my own crime ? ” 

“ I will take my son away to-night,” he said. 

“ He may refuse to go,” she answered doubtingly. 

“ He has never disobeyed me in his life, and I do not 
believe he will disobey me in this,” the man said proudly. “ I 
shall win a confession from him, and, if your fears are well- 
founded, will use my influence against this unfortunate 
attachment, and induce him to give the girl up.” 

“ Suppose, following the tradition of his parents, he refuses 
to listen to either your threats or your persuasions, what 
then ? ” she asked with white, dry lips. 

“ Then, Leah, but one way remains open to me, and that 
is to bind him first by an oath of eternal secrecy, and then 
confess all to him.” 

“ Oh, my God ! ” she moaned, covering her face with her 
hands, and rocking her body to and fro, “ what a terrible 
alternative ! to stand branded with the scarlet letter in 
the eyes of one whose love and respect I crave above all 
men ! ” 

“ Do not despair, Leah,” the man said, getting up from 
his kneeling posture and leaning over her. Trust all to me, 
and I will protect your good name, not only in the eyes of 
the world, but I swear to you, that my son shall hold you 
blameless.” 

“ God grant that this far greater blessing than I deserve 
may be vouchsafed me,” she said, getting up wearily, and 
beginning to prepare to leave the room. “ I will trust it all 
to you, Herbert, but remember if you fail, and my disgrace 


222 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


becomes known to the world, I will fill a suicide’s grave. 
When shall you leave the city ? ” 

“ At ten o’clock to-night. I will not mention my plans to 
Herbert until a short time before the hour for leaving ; so if 
he comes to the villa he will only have time for a brief leave- 
taking.” 

He brought her silken mantle as he spoke, laid it tenderly 
around her shoulders, and looking imploringly into her sad 
face said : 

“ To-night, Leah, we part, perhaps forever. Will it be 
any comfort to you to know that every tender recess of my 
heart has ever been, and ever shall be, kept sacred to the 
memory of our love ? ” 

She answered him only with her tears. 

He folded her tenderly in his arms, drew her head to his 
breast, and kissed her lips again and again, reverently, 
hopelessly, as one kisses for the last time the lips of the 
beloved dead, ere the coffin-lid shuts the dear face forever 
from earthly eyes. 

“ Good-bye, my beloved,” he murmured. “ God shield and 
keep you forever from harm, and grant that we may some 
day meet where partings are unknown, and love mourns no 
broken ties.” 

He drew his own silken handkerchief from his pocket, 
and dried her tears, comforting and reassuring her the 
while. 

When she had, under the strong magnetism of his touch, 
grown wondrously calm, he led her to the door, unlocked it 
for her to pass out, imprinted upon her tender lips a fare- 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


223 


well kiss, and stood watching her slender figure until she 
was joined by his own valet, who was watching for her 
coming in the lofty corridor. Then, with a sigh which 
seemed to come from a breaking heart, he stepped back 
into the room, closed and locked the door, and turning 
around stood face to face with his son. 


224 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Had the muzzle of a pistol been suddenly thrust into Dr. 
Raymond’s face by the hand of a murderous assassin, he could 
not have started back with more surprise and horror written 
on his countenance than was depicted there when his eyes 
fell upon the pale, reproachful face of his young son. 

“ How came you here ? ” the father demanded at length in 
an angry voice. “ You told me you were going with the 
sailing party.” 

“ The sailing was postponed, and I came back and fell 
asleep upon the lounge behind the curtains,” Herbert an- 
swered calmly. “ Unwillingly, I was made a spectator to part 
of the scene between the banker’s wife and yourself, and I 
wish to God my eyes had been closed in death before this 
unhappy hour, which has forced the awful conviction upon me 
that there is no virtue in woman and no honor in man. For 
when the woman whom I considered but little lower than the 
angels in heaven, has proved no better, nay, not even so good 
as the courtesan who walks the streets with painted face and 
flaunting garments ; for she, at least, makes no pretensions 
of virtue, and my own father, upon whose unswerving honor 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


225 


I should have*willingly staked my life, has turned traitor and 
seduced the wife of his friend, what man or woman in the 
whole universe shall I ever be able to trust ? ” 

A red wave mounted the doctor’s pale face as he listened 
to this scathing rebuke, dyeing it for a moment with crimson, 
and then as quickly receding, left him standing pale and 
abashed before the eyes of his reproachful son. He made 
no reply, but walked slowly to the arm-chair in which Mrs. 
Gilbert had sat, and threw himself wearily into its cushioned 
softness, as though he had neither heart nor strength to plead 
his cause before his angry judge. 

Herbert stood looking down at him a moment from his 
towering height of six feet, half in pity, half in scorn ; then 
turning quickly away, he snatched up his hat and started 
towards the door. As his hand was on the knob his father 
arrested his departure by saying : 

“ Where are you going, Herbert?” 

I neither know nor care,” was the reckless reply. 

“ Do not leave the room then ; come and sit down. I 
have a bit of history to reveal to you, which, I think, will make 
you confess that you have maligned a noble, although, in 
some respects, an unfortunate woman.” 

Something, very like a sneer curled the young man’s lips 
as he obeyed the request. 

“ Before I do this, however,” his father went on to say, “ I 
want you to answer truthfully the questions I shall ask you. 
Are you in love with Esther Gilbert, and do you desire her 
hand in marriage ?” 

Herbert started to his feet as these questions were put to 


\ 


2126 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


him, and the veins stood out on his white forehead in 
knotted blue lines. 

“ I am not in love with Esther Gilbert, thank God ! 
Neither do I desire her hand in marriage. If I were so un- 
fortunate, I would now tear her image from my heart, and 
cast it from me forever ; for rather than wed the daughter of 
the woman who has just left this room, I would willingly 
blow out my brains,” the young man answered with angry 
vehemence. 

The look of inexpressible relief that instantly chased the 
shadows of grief and unrest from the elder man’s face, as he 
heard this declaration was like that which sweeps over the 
face of a prisoner who, after weary days of trial for his life, 
at length has the gloomy recesses of his soul illuminated by 
the joyous words, “ Not guilty ! ” 

“Thank God,” he breathed devoutly, “that this added 
sorrow has passed the girl’s suffering mother by un- 
scathed.” 

This devout ejaculation caused the young man to stare at 
his father’s pale face for a moment in dumb astonishment. 

“ Your words mystify me beyond expression,” Herbert 
said at length. 

“ They shall soon be made clear to you,” his father replied, 
and getting up he went to his desk and returned with a 
small pocket Bible in his trembling hand. “ Herbert,” he 
said, as he again stood before his son, will you bind yourself 
by a solemn oath never to disclose the secret that I am 
about to reveal to you, unless you have Mrs. Gilbert’s full 
and willing consent ? ” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


227 


The young man hesitated as though some one sought to 
bind him by an oath to become an accomplice to a crime, 
and said : 

“ Father, this is a most extraordinary request. If you 
wish me to promise that I will never reveal what my dis- 
covery this afternoon leads me to believe — namely, that be- 
tween Mrs. Gilbert and my father, there has existed, or even 
now exists, very questionable relations — for your own safety, 
and for the sake of the shame which a revelation of the 
disgraceful facts would bring upon innocent parties, I am 
free to promise that 1 shall carry the secret to the grave 
with me.” 

“ If you will listen to what I have to tell you, you will dis- 
cover how unjust and erroneous your conclusions are,” his 
father answered sadly. 

“ I am ready to listen,” he replied briefly. 

“ But you have not taken the oath of secrecy,” his father 
reminded him. 

Herbert rose quickly to his feet and said : 

“ Neither shall I. I consider my word of honor as bind- 
ing as an oath.” 

“ Then you shall not hear the disclosure,” Dr. Raymond 
said, half turning away. 

The young man reached out quickly, and taking the Holy 
Bible from his father’s hand said impatiently : 

“ Repeat what you would have me say.” 

“ ‘ I solemnly swear that the secret which my father, Herbert 
Raymond, is about to divulge to me shall never be revealed by 
me to any person or persons on earth, unless I first obtain 


228 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


Mrs. George Gilbert’s full and willing consent,’ ” Dr. Ray- 
mond said slowly. 

His son repeated the words after him with becoming 
solemnity, and pressing his lips an instant to the open page 
of Holy Writ, closed the book, and handed it back to his 
father. 

Dr. Raymond laid the book on the table, and turning to 
his son, said kindly : 

“ Sit down ; I shall not detain you long.” 

Commencing with the first meeting between Leah Mansden 
and himself, Dr. Raymond gave his astonished son a full 
recital of the incidents and accidents occurring from that 
time to the present in the lives of the two, and which are 
already known to the reader. Long before the close of the 
pathetic narrative the angry fire in young Raymond’s eyes 
was quenched by tears. 

“ My own mother ! It seems almost impossible that this 
can be true,” he said with deep emotion. 

“ Do you wonder at her signs of distress during the inter- 
view she had with me to which you were an unseen witness ? ” 
his father asked. 

“ Indeed, I do not. The circumstances and danger that 
menaced her were enough to drive her insane. God forgive 
me for the wrong I momentarily did her ! It seems strange 
to me, how she or any one could have surmised that I was in 
love with Esther Gilbert, for nothing was ever more foreign 
to my thoughts. I love her as a very dear friend, and re- 
member now of often wishing that kind Heaven had blessed 
me with a sister like herself. But, aside from this, all the 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


229 

love of my heart was given to Ruth, almost from our first 
hour of meeting.” 

‘ ‘ Are both young ladies aware of your feelings toward 
them, respectively ? ” his father asked sympathetically. 

“ They are. Esther is my faithful friend and confidante, 
and this, I suppose, led others into the very natural mistake 
of supposing us to be lovers,” the young man replied, in 
rather a hopeless tone. “ Ruth, however, is so very shy and 
reticent, that sometimes I fear I shall never be able to win 
her affections.” 

“ Do not despair,” his father said hopefully. “ The young 
lady is no coquette. She is quiet and undemonstrative by 
nature, perhaps, but such a woman as that usually has a 
wealth of affection which blesses the man who is lucky 
enough to stir its still, deep fountain.” 

“ God grant that I may win her heart ! ” Herbert replied 
with much feeling. “ I cannot endure to even think upon 
the dreary waste life will become to me if she rejects my 
suit.” 

The two men sat silent for several minutes after Herbert 
ceased speaking, engrossed in deep thought, and then the 
young man said : 

“ You have not told me, father, when I shall be permitted 
to see the lady I have known as Mrs. Gilbert, and hear the 
sweet assurance from her own dear lips, that I am, indeed, her 
son.” 

“ I will make arrangements to have her come here to-mor- 
row, if possible, at the same hour that she came to-day. You 
may be concealed behind the curtains as you were then. 


230 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


After I have explained to her the circumstances which led to 
your possession of the secret, you may join us, and it is 
very easy for me to imagine how great her joy will be.” 

“ It will scarcely exceed my own,” Herbert replied ; “ for 
until my unfortunate — or I should say fortunate — witnessing 
of the interview between the lady and yourself, I had always 
had the deepest reverence and respect for her, and con- 
sidered her in every way far superior to any lady I ever met ; 
and now to understand it all, and know that I shall have the 
proud privilege of calling her by the holy name of mother, 
fills my heart with a flood of tender joy that is both strange 
and delicious to experience.” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


231 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

“ The deed has always haunted me as an unnatural and 
monstrous act for a mother to be guilty of. I cannot under- 
stand how you can be noble enough to forgive me for it, my 
son.” 

You were the victim of unfortunate circumstances, my 
mother.” 

“ Say, rather, that I was a victim to my own weak cow- 
ardice, that made me shrink from a life of poverty, with its 
small cares, its harassing privations, and its hours of toiling 
for daily bread.” 

“ These miseries are enough to appal the heart of the 
strongest man, much more a weak girl, thrown upon the hard 
world to fight the battle against poverty alone and unpro- 
tected,” young Raymond replied, as he kissed his mother’s 
quivering lips and wiped her tears away. 

The scene was in the private parlor of Dr. Raymond at the 
“ Spanish Castle,” the next day after Herbert Raymond had 
been made the sharer of his parents’ secret, and electrified 
by the wonderful news that he was the son of the aris- 
tocratic banker’s wife. 

Dr. Raymond had managed to privately summon the lady, 


232 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


and when she came with fear and trembling for the news he 
might have to impart, he comforted her with the assurance 
that all was well, and the mighty fears that had driven her 
to the verge of madness were groundless. 

When her son, obeying a sign from his father, came from 
his place of concealment, she stood for a moment abashed, 
trembling and shame-faced before the young man, her own 
born son, whom she had denied in his infancy. 

Then she fell upon her knees at his feet and begged his 
forgiveness for the wrong she had been guilty of committing 
against him. The young man raised her gently to her feet 
and pressed her quivering form tenderly to his heart, assur- 
ing her, as he mingled his tears with her own, of his for- 
giveness and undying love. After she had grown calm, he 
placed her in a chair, and, kneeling beside her, looked up 
into the dear face with eyes lighted with filial love and devo- 
tion, while his noble father, who had long ago accepted his 
own lonely fate with a heroism worthy of a martyr of old, sat 
by, joining in the conversation, and rejoicing that the two 
beings, whose happiness was with him paramount to every 
other desire in life, were at last reunited. 

“ It is a bitter thought to me,” Herbert said, “ that the 
mantle of secrecy must still be thrown around my birthright, 
and that I shall be denied the proud privilege of claiming 
my mother and half-sister before the world.” 

“ This is part of my just punishment,” his mother replied, 
as her hand caressed his sunny hair, and she looked con- 
tritely into the violet eyes, whose color and expression were 
so like her own that many a stranger had remarked upon the 
striking likeness between the two. “ It seems an unjust law 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


2 33 


that often the innocent must suffer with the guilty, but it is 
so, she added, in deep humiliation of spirit. 

\ ou must cease to reproach yourself, dear mother, or 
you will render me very unhappy,” her son replied, with 
great earnestness. 

Leah’s eyes wandered from his handsome young face to 

the benevolent one of his father, upon which the sorrow and 

disappointment of his life had left many a telltale mark, and 
said : 

“ 0ur son has inherited my features, but kind Heaven has 
blessed him with your nobleness of spirit, Herbert.” 

My love for you, Leah, has been my guiding star through 
life,” he replied. “ If my character is possessed of one tithe 
of the nobleness with which you so kindly attribute it, the 
same was developed by my affection for the girl I wooed, 
won and lost, long years ago.” 

Had I been worthy such devotion, how different our 
lives might have been, ’ she replied sadly, as she rose and 
began to prepare for her return to Myrtle Villa, before her 
long absence should excite inquiry. u You will take care to 
guard my secret well, will you not, my son ? ” she asked 
tremblingly, as she stood with both her hands clasped in his. 

“ Not that I deserve to be so kindly shielded from the censure 
of the world,” she added quickly, flushing under her son’s 
steady eyes, “ but for the peace of mind of the man whom 
I deceived, and for the sake of your dear half-sister. Mr. 
Gilbert’s unbounded confidence in my truth and integrity of 
character has never faltered ; and now, at this late day, 
should he become possessed of my secret, and realize the 


234 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 




enormity of the deception I have practiced all these years, it 
would drive him to madness.” 

“ Mother, have no fear. Your unhappy secret shall be as 
well guarded for all time by your son as it has been by your- 
self and my father in the past.” 

He folded her in his arms and kissed her lips and cheeks 
over and over again, as though he could never give her up. 
When he at last released her and looked about for Dr. Ray- 
mond, he was not in the room. 

He did not remark upon his father’s disappearance, but 
giving his arm to his mother, led her downstairs, placed her 
in the waiting carriage, and stood watching the elegant equi- 
page until it disappeared from his view down the street. 

Then pulling his hat down over his gloomy brow, the 
young man turned his back upon the busy thoroughfare, and 
took himself away to the green, sweet solitude of the woods, 
on the banks of the St. Sebastian, to ponder over the strange 
events that had recently occurred in his life. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


235 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

One week later, when Dr. Raymond and his son turned 
their half-reluctant faces towards their northern home, Her- 
bert Raymond, Jr., with the full consent of the young lady’s 
father, was the betrothed husband of Ruth Gilbert. 

“ When one thinks of the sweet companionship which ex- 
isted between the boy and girl in their early childhood, and 
the grief of little Ruth when she was deprived of his pres- 
ence, it seems the most natural thing in the world that the 
two should become lovers in their maturer years, and later 
on husband and wife ; ” Mr. Gilbert said to his wife, when 
the love-affair between the two young people was being dis- 
cussed by the two in their private apartment. 

“ Nothing could give me more pleasure than their be. 
trothal,” Mrs. Gilbert answered, without lifting her eyes 
from the piece of fancy-work her fingers were busy upon. 

“ Herbert Raymond is one of nature’s true noblemen. He 
is also very talented and ambitious, and will, if he lives long 
enough, make his mark in the world,” Mr. Gilbert continued 
enthusiastically. 

“ I hope so,” was all the reply she dared trust herself to 
make. 

The banker got up, lit a fresh cigar, and sitting down 


236 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


again, said thoughtfully between the puffs of smoke slowly 
leaving his lips : 

“ I do not know much about the boy’s ancestry. I have 
never heard any one mention his mother or his maternal 
relatives. I was favorably impressed with his father, how- 
ever, although I saw but little of him during his stay in this 
city. I made several attempts to cultivate his acquaintance 
further but failed.” 

Mrs. Gilbert made no answer to his observations, and by 
and by the banker continued : 

“ I surmised Dr. Raymond to be a wealthy man, but I was 
a little surprised when he consulted me in regard to the be- 
trothal between Ruth and his son, to hear that Herbert’s 
own private fortune which his father had set aside for him 
when he attained his majority, to be over one hundred thou- 
sand dollars. This sum, with what I shall be able to give 
the girl as a marriage portion, will make the young people 
quite independent.” 

Mrs. Gilbert bent her head very low over an intricate 
stitch in her embroidery, but still no syllable, or monosyl- 
able escaped her lips. 

The banker at length took his cigar from his mouth, and 
holding it between his fingers asked : 

“ Leah, how does it happen that, unwomanlike, you are 
allowing me to do all the talking this evening ? ” 

She looked up from her work and laughed : 

“ It is because I do not happen to be in a talkative mood, 
I suppose,” she said, while she felt the color stealing guiltily 
into her face, under the scrutiny of his laughing eyes. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


237 


“Well, I know that your silence is not attributable to a 
lack of interest in the subject, for was there ever a woman so un- 
true to the tradition of her sex, as not to be interested in a pro- 
spective wedding ! What will you say, little mother, when 
I tell you that by your gracious consent we will, in all prob- 
ability, have a double wedding at the villa before the year 
has closed ? ” 

She dropped her work now and looked up at him with 
wonder in her eyes. 

“ A double wedding ? ” she asked in surprise. 

“ Yes. To-day Frank Foster called upon me at my office 
and asked Esther’s hand of me in marriage.” 

“ Is it possible ? ” she exclaimed. “ I had no idea that he 
had even won the girl’s heart.” 

“ Nor I. I thought for some time that Herbert Raymond 
was in love with her, and would be her choice between the 
two,” he returned. 

Was it his imagination or did his wife’s cheeks turn white 
as the petals of an ascension lily, as she dropped her eyes 
suddenly again upon her work. 

“ Does the prospect of losing both our daughters at one 
time distress you so much ? ” he asked kindly. “ If so 
Esther is young enough to wait another year.” 

“ It will be very hard to see them leave our home for 
homes of their own at any time,” she answered, with tears in 
her voice. 

“ Still they must go sooner or later,” he rejoined. “ Frank 
Foster’s home is in this city, so we shall not be separated 
from Esther by distance at any rate, and although Ruth’s 


238 HER SHADOWED LIFE. 

home will be in New York, this distance is easily accomplished 
nowadays. ” 

So after considerably more discussion of the important 
coming events, it was settled that there would be a grand 
double wedding at Myrtle Villa early in the coming winter. 

When the season had advanced into the first days of 
summer, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert and their lovely daughters, 
following the usual custom of the family, repaired to a 
delightful resort in the north, and later on their party was 
increased by the appearance of the two happy young men, 
who would, ere long claim the banker’s daughters as their 
own fair brides. 

Dr. Raymond had gone to Europe for an indefinite stay, 
and it was stated, much to Mr. Gilbert’s surprise, that he 
would not return to witness his son’s nuptials. 

“ That man is growing into a regular misanthrope,” the 
banker remarked to his wife when he heard the news. 

The summer, freighted with happiness for the two pairs of 
betrothed lovers, flew quickly past on rosy wings, bringing 
the day speedily when the Southerners were again at Myrtle 
Villa, busy in preparations for the double wedding, which was 
now only a few days distant. 

To illustrate how well Herbert Raymond had kept the 
oath made to his father on that memorable day, and his 
subsequent promise to his mother ; be it said that during 
all these summer days of intimacy, with the banker and his 
family, the young man let fall no word, nor was he ever be- 
trayed into any action or expression of affection for his 
mother, dearly as he loved her, that would excite the least 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


239 

suspicion as to any unusual relations existing between the 
banker’s wife and himself. 

Truly, Leah’s son had proven himself to be a loyal cus- 
todian of the heart secret, with which his parents had in- 
trusted him. 

The wedding day — the brightest and most beautiful possible 
even in this sunny clime — dawned and passed away, with all 
the merry ringing of wedding-bells, display of bridal finery, 
blushing brides, tears, kisses and congratulations usual upon 
such occasions, a description of which would only be the 
repeating of an oft-told tale. 

Leah, who had all day long hoped and prayed for at least 
one moment’s private speech with her son, was beginning to 
despair that the opportunity would present itself, when 
just before the departure of the bridal couples for their wed- 
ding journey, and while the house was still filled with guests, 
she, stepping into the library, intent upon some small errand, 
found it deserted by all except her son. 

He had changed his wedding outfit for a traveling suit, 
and stood under the soft light of the chandelier, busy mak- 
ing entries in his memoranda. The blinds were all closed 
and the curtains tightly drawn. 

“ Are you alone, Herbert ? ” she whispered. 

“ Quite alone, dear mother,” he answered in the same 
low tone. 

She hastily turned the key in the door, and rushed into 
his outstretched arms with a smothered cry of joy. 

“ Thank heaven ! I may at last call you mother,” the 
young man murmured, as he fondly embraced her. 


240 


HER SHADOWED LI EE. 


She returned his caresses and called down Heaven’s 
choicest blessings upon him and his wedded love. 

“ How far beyond my deserts have I been blessed ! ” she 
exclaimed. “ In all my past dreary contemplations of the 
future after I surrendered you to your father’s care, never 
one ray of hope came that I should be reunited with my son. 
In what an extraordinary manner has the good God brought 
about this reunion, and still permitted me to retain my 
honored position and good name before the world.” 

As she spoke she drew from the bosom of her satin bodice 
a slender golden chain, which, securely attached to her dress, 
had been hidden from sight. As she detached and drew it 
forth, a brilliant solitaire diamond ring flashed forth its pris- 
matic rays in the soft light. She unclasped the tiny chain, 
and, slipping off the ring, pressed it to her lips a moment, 
while tears started from her eyes. 

“ It was your father’s gift to me, my darling,” she said in 
a choking voice. “ He slipped it upon my finger in the pres- 
ence of the man of God, while his dear lips murmured : 
‘ With this ring, I thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I 
thee endow.’ Oh, day of exquisite happiness, how very, very 
far down the dimmed and tear-washed aisles of the past it 
now appears ! All these years, my precious boy, this ring 
has lain next my heart, and now it is your mother’s wedding 
gift to you.” 

She slipped the glittering gem upon the last finger of his 
left hand, as she spoke, and he, bending over it, said with 
deep emotion : 

“ Precious gift, hallowed forever by the touch of my dear 


HER SHAH OWED LIFE. 


241 


mother’s hand, made sacred by the most holy associations of 
the day that bound my parents’ hearts as one, typifying as it 
does the endless happiness in store for them, when all the 
mistakes and mists of life are caught up and dispelled in the 
bright light of Eternity’s dawn. Ever be my talisman ; and 
when the finger upon which, in life, it was worn, is cold in 
death, may the still sparkling gem symbolize the undying 

love I ever cherished for my beloved parents.” 

16 


242 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 


“ There is a calm that comes at evening, 

When the weary day is o’er, 

That is soothing as the lullaby 
From mother’s song of yore. 

What, though the day be dreary, 

We will forget it all 
In the calm that comes at evening, 

When the twilight shadows fall.” 

The snow and ice of mid-winter lay upon the low brick 
house, and hung in glittering pendants from the leafless trees 
surrounding the house that had been Leah Mansden’s 
childhood’s home. 

The day was sparkling bright and cold. The smoke from 
the chimneys of the old house, standing far back from the 
street, trembled in plain straight lines in the cold, clear 
atmosphere, making a strong contrast to the dome of blue 
ether above. 

A flock of tiny snow-birds, hopping and chirruping about 
the small white gate leading to the ground inclosing the 
house, rose and sailed away on swift, silent wings as a slender 
female figure clad in deep widow’s weeds, approached and 
laid one of her gloved hands on the rusty gate-latch. 





“ Martha Moore stood in the yard with a bright tin pan in her hands.” 

Page 243. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


243 


The face of the newcomer was pale and worn with sorrow, 
and belonged to a woman whose age was nearing the merid- 
ian of life. It was, however, a beautiful and interesting 
face, and one that would command more than a casual glance 
from its beholder. 

The lady entered the gate, and following the path made 
between the huge banks of snow, piled high on either side, 
walked with erect carriage and downcast eyes to the back 
of the house. 

Martha Moore stood in the yard with a bright tin-pan in 
her hand, from which she was feeding a large flock of chick- 
ens, which clustered around her feet, or flew upon her 
shoulders in their tame eagerness for their morning meal. 

When the black-robed figure stood looking at her with 
pathetic, violet eyes, the woman gave one startled and be- 
wildered glance into them, and then, dropping her pan and 
scattering the chickens right and left, she gave vent to a joy- 
ful cry as she clasped the returned wanderer in her motherly 
arms crying : 

“ Leah, Leah ! my darling child, have you returned to me 
at last ? ” 

“ Yes, Martha, after the trials, storms, temptations and 
sins of almost a quarter of a century, I have returned to you, 
my more than mother, and all I crave is to be permitted to 
spend the remainder of my days with you in the sweet seclu- 
sion of the house that witnessed my birth, and sheltered me 
in the days of my happy childhood.” 

After many tears, embraces, and thankful ejaculations for 
the return of her foster-child, Martha almost carried the 


244 


HER SHADOWED LIFE . 


nearly exhausted lady into the genial warmth of the comfort- 
able, and well-kept old house. 

Divesting her of her somber wrappings she placed her in 
a large chintz-covered chair beside the fire, roaring in the 
brightly polished stove. 

“ I have so much to tell you, Martha, ” she said, with a 
smile so sorrowfully pathetic, it brought the tears to Martha’s 
eyes. 

“You must tell me nothing, my darling, until you are 
thoroughly warmed and rested and have partaken of break- 
fast.” 

With these words the good woman hurried away, and soon 
returned bearing a tempting meal smoking on a tray, from 
which the weary traveler made a refreshing repast. 

Then, and not until then, would Martha permit the lady to 
speak of her past life, after she herself had returned to their 
western home long years ago. 

With tears often flowing from her kind eyes, Martha lis- 
tened while Leah related all except one of the important 
and wonderful events which had occurred in her life since 
her separation from her old and faithful friend. 

At the close of her narrative, Leah sat with head leaning 
wearily back against the bright chintz cushion of the chair. 

Her eyes were closed, and she sat in rapt thought. 

The long silence which had fallen between the two was at 
last broken by Martha, saying in a low trembling voice : 

“ Leah, my darling, you are a widow. Your apparel and 
sad face tell me that this is true, although you have not 
mentioned your bereavement.” 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


2 45 

She raised her head and looked at Martha a moment in 
pitiful silence and then said sadly : 

“ Yes, Martha, I am a widow, and God help me ! The 
man who showered such a wealth of tender devotion upon me, 
died, when apparently in the best of health, leaving me not 
only heart-broken from my sudden bereavement, but bowed 
down into the very dust with undying remorse for the decep- 
tion I had practiced upon him, and for which I never had 
strength of character sufficient to beg his forgiveness. 
“ Oh, Martha, Martha ! ” and the deep violet eyes shone 
with a dry, unnatural luster, as the widow looked imploringly 
into her friend’s sympathetic face. “ Think you not that 
now, when, with the clear vision of immortality he knows 
the enormity of my crime, he does not despise and loathe 
me ? ” 

“ Neither hatred, malice, uncharitableness, nor any carnal 
passion can enter the kingdom of God, my poor child,” Mar- 
tha returned in a comforting voice. If Mr. f in his 

home in heaven is permitted by the good Goa to fnov vf 
the deception you practiced upon him, the same kind 
Father will permit him to understand the trials which led 
you to yield to the temptation, and all you suffered subse- 
quently in consequence. Then fear not that the spirit of ‘ a 
just man made perfect,’ will prove to be more unforgiving 
than spirits who still inhabit tabernacles of clay.” 

As Martha comforted and sustained the deserted young 
wife during her early trials, she now comforted and sustained 
the sorrowing woman in her widowhood. Talking and rea- 


246 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


soning with her until the spirit of morbid remorse which 
lashed her soul with whips of torture, was lulled to rest. 

After Mr. Gilbert’s death, a will had been produced by his 
business attorney, which had been placed in his hands several 
years prior to the gentleman’s decease, in which his dearly 
beloved wife, Leah Gilbert, and his two daughters Ruth and 
Esther, were named as sole and jointly equal legatees. 

Yielding to her mother’s earnest solitations, Esther and 
her young husband had taken up their residence at Myrtle 
Villa, while Herbert and Ruth resided at their New York 
home. 

No nun, in peaceful seclusion behind convent walls, ever 
lived more quietly, or apart from the world, than did Mrs. 
Gilbert in the cloister-like retirement of her western home. 

In vain her children implored her to return to her southern 
home. 

She was more contented in her present place of abode, she 
told th^m, than she could be in any other place ; and re- 
luctantly they let her have her way. 

The second year of her widowhood had advanced into the 
long bright summer days, and Leah walked daily with Martha 
about the little farm and garden, taking a lively interest in 
the growing crops, horses, cows, and poultry. She went no- 
where, except to church, unless it was to visit some case of 
charity which had been made known to Martha. 

At the beginning of the second year of her return to the 
west, yielding to Martha’s sensible advice, she had laid aside 
her deep mourning robes. 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


247 


With the resumption of a lighter and more cheerful attire, 
Leah’s health and spirits improved, and her life, although 
very, very quiet, was tranquil. 

It had grown into a habit with her to often repair to the 
old trysting place of her young lover and herself, and there 
spend hours under the grateful coolness of the green trees, 
either reading or watching the feathered songsters as they 
flitted busily among the green branches, or letting her eyes 
follow the course of the clear brook, which babbled and sang 
merrily on its way. 

One bright morning in early September, taking a book in 
which she was deeply interested, she repaired to this favorite 
spot, and sitting down on a grassy knoll near the water’s 
edge, was soon absorbed in the contents of the volume. 

She was dressed in a pale lavender silk, which fitted her 
form to perfection. Her face had regained much of the 
healthful color that tinged it in the long ago. 

Her hat lay on the grass by her side, and her hair was 
pushed loosely and carelessly back from her low broad brow, 
as she bent in absorbing interest over the open pages lying 
in her lap. 

Presently her small fox-terrier, which had followed its 
mistress, and lay sleeping near her feet, raised its head and 
growled. 

“ Lie still, Carl,” she said, without lifting her eyes. 

Instead of obeying the command, however, the little ani- 
mal sprang up and broke into a succession of shrill loud 
barks. 


248 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


Mrs. Gilbert rose to her feet, and looking to see what dis- 
turbed the dog, saw, standing under the dim shadows of the 
mass of foliage, on a line with herself and not three feet 
away, Dr. Raymond. 

Her recognition of him was instantaneous. She dropped 
her book, advanced a few steps towards him, and held out 
her hands ; the next instant, with a glad cry of joy, he had 
her in his arms, and was covering her face with kisses. 

When they had both grown calmer they sat down on the 
grassy bank, which happened to be the very spot where their 
early love vows had been plighted, and there had a long, 
earnest conversation, as became their mature years, and the 
trials through which they had passed. 

We will not listen, however, to the import of their conver- 
sation. We can easily surmise what it was, so come away 
with me, dear reader, and leave them in peace. 

“ Stop a moment, ” you protest, “ Mrs. Gilbert has made a 
remark that has brought the smiles to her companion’s face.” 
“ You seem to forget, Herbert,” she said, deprecatingly, 
“ that I am an old woman now.” 

“An old woman, darling? How absurd ! What if there 
are a few threads of silver in your hair, you are far more 
beautiful to me now than you ever were. Look at myself,” 
he continued, “ and you will see that time in its onward 
flight has not, by any means, passed me by untouched. 
What of that ? Why should we not spend the remainder 
of our days together ? Come with me, beloved, and let this 
happy hour restore to me the lost happiness of my youth,” 
he pleaded. 





“ Dr. Raymond led Leah into the old red brick house.” — Page 249 





HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


249 


Without another word Leah picked up her hat, and, placing 
it upon her head, took his arm, and slowly they left the 
shadowed coolness of the fragrant woods, and bent their 
footsteps toward the little church, now beautified and en- 
larged, where first they breathed their nuptial vows. 

When the golden September sun hung midway in the 
cloudless sky, Dr. Raymond led Leah into the old red brick 
house, where Martha was beginning to wonder and fret over 
her long absence, and presented her to the astonished wo- 
man as his newly-wedded wife. 

Three happy weeks were passed by the reunited husband 
and wife in the beautiful seclusion of the old home, and then, 
returning to St. Augustine they took up their abode at the 
Spanish Castle.” 

Ere long, they were joined by Herbert Raymond and his 
charming young wife, and then Leah’s happiness was com- 
plete. 

It was a matter of great wonder to Esther that her mother 
could never be induced to come to Myrtle Villa, not for even 
one day’s visit. 

“ It must be that she loved dear papa so fondly, that she 
cannot bear to remain long in the house which was their 
home during the happy years of their wedded life,” the young 
wife said confidentially, to her husband and sister Ruth. 

“ This may be her reason for declining to spend at least 
part of the season with you,” Ruth replied thoughtfully, “ or 
perhaps she cannot endure to visit the scene of his sudden 
death. Just think of the terrible shock to her when she 


250 


HER SHADOWED LIFE. 


found him sitting dead from heart failure in my mother’s 
study, with his poor head resting on her desk, while we were 
absent on our wedding journey. That the shock of the dis- 
covery did not kill her is marvelous.” 


THE END. 


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